Upon Ethereal Wings
by Michael The-Zorch Haney
Summary: Fear of losing Ranma after his battle of Herb makes Akane rethink he feeling for him and comes to a decision that will change their relationship for the better. However, that does not mean the insanity that surrounds their lives are over, not by a long s
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty Productions,   
and Viz Communications.  
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UPON ETHEREAL WINGS  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
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NOTES:   
Concepts used in this fic were developed back in 1992 when for the original story behind Orrin Quintarin, a character I later used in the Tenchi fan fic "The Dark Lord of Jurai". That original story was never completed but will be someday. Other concepts in this fic were inspired by the 119 chapter Ranma fan fic by Jim Bader entitled "A Tale of Two Wallets". Special thanks to Doug Dennis, author at Fan-Fics-R-Us, and Dataxan for their input and proofreading assistance.   
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Prologue  
  
Herb of the Musk was defeated, and Ranma had restored his ability to return to his male form with the magical Open Water Kettle. When he got back home to the Tendo's place he was greeted with the shock of his life.  
And Ranma was still in shock. Akane hugged him, actually hugged him! No yelling, no hitting, she ran to him threw her arms around his waist and hugged him! And she cried too. That part really bugged Ranma a lot, he didn't like seeing Akane cry. Despite all the abuse he got from her he still cared about the girl who was his iinazuke, even though the whole engagement thing was cooked up by his father and Mr. Tendo. That would have been enough, but for some reason Akane's attitude towards him has suddenly changed. She's almost gone out of her way not to be mad at him and is even trying to listen to his side of the story for once. He wasn't sure what was going on with her, yet somehow he liked it.  
Those days waiting for Ranma to return after he went after Herb and the Open Water Kettle had been a nightmare for Tendo Akane. She laid in her bed staring up at the ceiling. No I don't miss him., she told herself. Good riddance to him!, she said again after a little while. Where is he?, she wondered later. Ranma, please be alright., her heart pleaded just before falling asleep, tear streaks still evident on her face.  
When Ranma came back it was like a dream. First he wasn't there and then he was. She tried to act indifferent to his return, but the days he'd been gone were like a kind of torture. For the very first time Akane was afraid for Ranma, afraid he wouldn't be back from this battle, afraid that she'd loose him for good. That fear tore away some of the black veil that covered her true feelings concerning the sex switching youth. Herb was an enemy unlike any Akane had seen Ranma face before. He was very powerful, almost too powerful. It would have taken a miracle for Ranma to defeat him. Now he was back, he did win against him, and Ranma had his manhood back but also still had the cursed. That didn't matter so much to Akane, she'd been living under the same roof with Ranma so long that it just didn't bother her anymore. It was the sheer fact that he could have been killed leaving her alone that terrified her. So when Ranma came back she did the only thing she could, she ran to him, threw her arms around him and cried into this chest.  
It all became clear to Akane. She couldn't change who or what Ranma was, he was a Saotome, he was a martial artist, and he will have challenges and battles. It wasn't what was wrong with Ranma it was what was wrong with Akane. She was the problem, her out of control temper was the problem. Looking back Akane realized that her life was way better off since Ranma came to live in her father's house. He kept the Hentai Horde at bay, he pacified Kuno, and saved her life more times than she could count. She was "lucky" to have a man like him, she took him for granted, abused him, accused him of things he didn't do. It all hit her like the proverbial "ton of bricks". Akane needed to change her life, change her attitude towards Ranma, or one day she'll loose him never having really known him. She really didn't know Ranma, or she thought she did, but even those perceptions were clouded by her anger. Anger at discovering the girl she was beaten by almost a year ago in the dojo was actually a boy who turns into a girl because of a curse. I was so stupid!, she berated herself.  
From that day Akane endeavored to improve herself, to keep her temper in check, and to stop hiding her feelings for someone who was literally the man of her dreams. The two returned from a grueling day at Furinken High School, it took all of Akane's willpower but she didn't hit Ranma not even once all day. Not even when he accepted Okonomiyaki from Ukyo, or when Shampoo showed up with her Bicycle of Death and glomped him. Seeing through new eyes Akane realized Ranma really didn't want Shampoo's attention, he wasn't inviting her to glomp him, she was the one doing the glomping! Ranma considered Ukyo a friend and treated her that way, he didn't treat her like a man treated a woman he liked romantically. It was with this new perception that Akane also realized that Ranma was afraid of her. She decided to do something about that immediately!  
  
"We're home!" Akane announced as she and Ranma enter the Tendo house.  
The ever cheerful Tendo Kasumi peeked her head out of the kitchen and said, "Oh Akane, Ranma, dinner will be ready in about an hour."  
"Ok, we'll be in the dojo." Replied Akane.  
"Uh, we will?" Ranma eyed her suspiciously.  
She grabbed his hand, an act that shocked him as much as the hug the other day, and led him through the house. "Yes, we're going to the dojo, we need to talk."  
"We do?"  
  
They sat facing one another on the dojo floor. Ranma was very uncomfortable. Akane had been quiet towards him all day today even then Shampoo showed up. Now that they were alone in the dojo he was afraid that she was going to blow up on him. The first thing she said he wasn't expecting at all.  
"Ranma, are you as tired of this whole situation as I am?"  
"Nani?" he gaped at her.  
"Are you?" she asked again.  
He scratched the back of his head and stammered, "Well, uh."  
"Let me rephrase it then." She replied calmly. "Are you happy with how our relationship is going?"  
She wants to break it off., he realized to himself. "Well, sorta."  
"I can see it in your face, you're not." She said.  
"No, I'm not." He admitted resigning himself to the inevitable. The inevitable that never came.  
"So am I, Ranma, I want us to start over." Ranma looked up at her in surprise and saw the serious expression on her face.  
"I was, afraid, the whole time you were gone chasing down Herb." Akane confessed. "Afraid that I'd loose you and I never really took the time to know you."  
"Akane, I-"  
"Let me finish." She interrupted him raising one hand. "These past few days made me think, about you and me. We both didn't get off on a good start and our fathers pushing this whole thing on us all the time isn't helping either. This whole thing with Herb made me realize what's really important to me."  
"You're important to me." She finished looking down at her hands.  
"Akane." Ranma gasped quietly.  
"Never thought you'd hear me say that, did you?" she asked looking up at his cute, bewildered face.  
Ranma was over next to her in a shot and pressed her hand to her forehead. "Akane are you ok, you don't have a fever-"  
She grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with me, well not what you think is wrong, but what I said is the truth." She told him.  
He looked back at her, his expression softened, the barriers between began to slowly crack and crumble away. "You're important to me too." He admitted.  
Tears threatened to come forth in Akane's eyes. "I've been so wrong, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I've treated you like trash." That past part came out in a near sob from her lips.  
"I ain't been any better, Akane." He smiled. "You know me, I think before I say anything, I kinda-"  
"Stick your foot in your mouth?" she finished for him with a crooked smile.  
He laughed. "Ah, yeah."  
"I say things I shouldn't really say, you know kinda like thinking out loud and stuff." He went on. "Like when I talk about your cooking-"  
"My cooking stinks, I have to admit it to myself." She interrupted him. "Not even P-Chan would eat it and pigs eat anything."  
"You can get better." Ranma reassured her. "Its like martial arts, you only get better with practice."  
Akane laughed. "Everything with you is martial arts, but then I guess I'm stuck with that."  
Ranma smiled at that. "Keep trying, never give up, that's what I live by and it's made me the best."  
"You are so arrogant." Akane smirked.  
"And you're such a tomboy." Ranma smirked right back.  
"Am I really that uncute?" she asked seriously.  
Their eyes met again. "No, actually your kinda cute right now."  
"Ranma, we gotta make some promises to one another, starting with me." She said and went on. "I promise not to hit you anymore, to always listen to your side of the story, to stop coming to conclusions, and to be nicer to you."  
"I promise not to call you uncute, or sexless, or built like a brick, and stuff like that." Ranma said, earning a slight smirk from his iinazuke. "I promise to stop criticizing ya and to like help ya get better in stuff, like cooking and in the art too."  
Akane blinked. "The art, you mean you'll train with me?"  
"Why not, if you're gonna hang with me you'll need it." He laughed.  
"I should've seen that one coming." She rolled her eyes.  
"I like this, I'm sorry it took scaring the begeebees out of you, but I like this." He smiled, his fingers softly caressed Akane's hands.  
Akane was suddenly very serious. "I don't know if I'm truly in love with you Ranma, but I know I'd be lost if you never came back."  
Ranma tightened his grip on her hands only slightly. "Why don't we see if we can like fall in love?"  
"I'd like that." She said softly.  
"Me too." Slowly as if guided by instinct the two leaned towards one another. The kiss was clumsy but it was a start. A feeling like electricity ran through the two of them and between them. Their arms moved of their own accord and wrapped around one another as they deepened the kiss and pressed their bodies together. Ranma and Akane's hearts raced and all the world around seemed to blur and fade into nothingness. When they parted both issued a soft but startled, "Wow."  
  
"Its in the bag, Saotome." Tendo Soun whispered from his hidden vantage point near one of the partially opened doors of the dojo.  
"They keep this up the schools will be join in no time." Saotome Genma, in human form, a rarity, smiled at his lifelong friend.  
"I think this whole incident has made Akane finally wake up." Nabiki whispered.  
"Oh my, you really think so Nabiki?" Kasumi asked quietly.  
Nabiki nodded. "I know my little sister, she was all torn up when Ranma was gone."  
"Hopefully this will reduce the cost of repairs." She added with a sigh.  
  
Across town sat a modest Chinese restaurant. The sign outside read "Nekohautan" in scrawled Japanese kanji characters, which translates to "Cat Café". The proprietor stood at her customary place in the kitchen preparing ramen. She checked the water to make sure it was boiling and slowly dropped the wire basket of uncooked ramen inside. Perched midway up on a knurled old wooden staff with nearly perfect superhuman balance, Matriarch Cologne of the Nyanchiczu, the Chinese Amazons, turned to the two bowls of steaming ramen she just prepared and added the ingredients. Holding them up in both hands and gripping the staff with her feet she turned and yelled out.  
"Two ramen for table four!"  
She tossed the two bowls through the air. A light purple blur shot past snatching the two bowls out of the air. Shampoo, great grand daughter to Cologne, and future successor to her legacy as Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu delivered the order to the appropriate table then gleefully went on to her next task. Cologne noticed Mousse, a male of the Nyanchiczu, a skilled warrior in the difficult to master art of hidden weapons which contrasted well with his poor vision, bussing the empty tables left behind by the late lunch crowd. She saw him from time to time shoot affectionate glances over at Shampoo and sighed. The boy will never learn that Shampoo doesn't share his feelings., she said to herself.  
Cologne became aware of a change in the air, it was to her unique senses very powerful. A sudden wave of disorientation washed over the old matriarch. For the first time she nearly feel from her staff. Shampoo saw her great grand mother's distress and rushed to her aid. Mousse just smirked. Old bat, I hope it's a stroke., he cheered inwardly. Just as it began the disorientation ended and Cologne caught herself before Shampoo could reach her.  
"Great grand mother, what's wrong!" Shampoo was so concerned she forgot to speak in Nihongo and spoke in Mandrin instead.  
Cologne waved her off. "I'm fine, I suddenly felt a disturbance in the flow of destiny surrounding Nerima."  
"Curious, very curious." She added.  
"What it mean, great grandma?" Shampoo asked switching to Nihongo, a language she still hadn't fully mastered yet.  
"The change appears to be centered around son-in-law, yet I also feel it around the Tendo girl also." The matriarch mused.  
"Kitchen Destroyer?" Shampoo blinked.  
"Remain here and tend to the customers." Cologne ordered. "Whether it is for good or ill I just discover the nature of this shift in the strings of destiny surrounding the Tendo home." With that Cologne bounded from the kitchen using her staff like a pogo stick and vanished through the front door at an incredible speed for someone of her apparent age.  
"Great grandma is worried, Ranma come back from fight with Musk but-" Shampoo thought out loud.  
"Oh, airen, please be ok." She sighed.  
Damn you Saotome, I'll get you for stealing the affections of my Shampoo., Mousse seethed inwardly as he tossed an empty bowl onto his cart and headed for the kitchen.  
  
Almost over a thousand miles away an elderly woman sat in lotus position in the center of a grass hut. She sat quietly not moving with barely even a perception of her breathing. Despite her age, which was considerable, she appeared to be no more than forty to forty five years of age. Her gray hair flowed luxuriously down her back and along the floor. Had she been standing it would have reached her ankles. Silken robes covered her body revealingly only traces of a once voluptuous figure. For her age she was still strikingly beautiful, but the years were slowly eroding her once widely envied good looks.  
Lady Ambrosia, member of the council of elders of the Nyanchiczu, opened her eyes with a start. I've found her., she said to herself. The memory of the perceived change in the winds of destiny in the far off land of Japan where the Matriarch currently dwelled was still fresh in her mind.  
"Lady Ambrosia?" The elder looked up to see her niece look down at her with a look of concern.  
"I am fine Orchid dear." She said.  
"You looked disturbed for a moment." Orchid wasn't very convinced.  
Ambrosia reached out her arm, a wooden staff gilded with gold and silver slowly flew through the air and into her open palm. With the staff she climbed to her feet. "I've found her." She said.  
Orchid gasped. "Are you certain?"  
"Yes, without a doubt." Ambrosia nodded.  
"Are, are we in danger?" Orchid had to ask, she was a warrior and it was her duty to know if there were threats to her people.  
"That is unknown, my steps must be measured lightly for now on." The old woman replied.  
She turned and walked towards the only entrance to the hut. "I must leave now."  
"Wait, without informing the council?!" Orchid exclaimed.  
"That would be unwise, you know how they would react." The old woman turned to look at her. "The old fools still hold to the foolish and dangerous notion that The One would be found only among our people."  
Orchid nodded and looked down at her hands. "They would certainly voice many objections."  
"Objections, dear, they would be quite livid, and most of their aggression would undoubtedly fall upon me." Ambrosia pointed at herself after making a wide gesture with her arms.  
"They would never-"  
"They would if they could." The old woman winked at her niece.  
"What should I say if they ask me where you have gone?" Orchid asked softly.  
Ambrosia turned around and walked away from her, then looked over her shoulder. "Tell them the truth, you do not know." Before she was finished speaking Ambrosia's body seemed to blur and become unfocused in Orchid's eyes. Quickly the shape of her body began to bend and twists like clay being molded by great invisible hands. She diminished in size considerably before taking on a new form, one that was graceful yet also not entirely human. Orchid blinked, the beautiful swan that her aunt had become looked at her with intelligent eyes then turned and hurled herself into the air. The beautiful fowl flapped her wings gaining altitude with every stroke. Soon she was no longer visible on the horizon. If The One has been found then the Age of Shadows is near., Orchid realized with sudden horror. Ever since her birth the ancient legends were drilled into the hearts and minds of every warrior born among the Amazons.  
  
Cologne reached her destination in record time, the Tendo household. The residual reverberations of the change in the flow of destiny here was still quite strong. Anyone in Nerima, of which there were many, who could sense this change would undoubtedly be drawn to this place soon. Cologne knew two such denizens of Nerima personally, one was a diminutive old monster who plagued her memories, and the other was a boy who couldn't find his way out of a straight line corridor. The matriarch followed the still fresh reverberations towards the Tendo dojo. Upon immediately inspection she found it empty, but she could feel where the change took place. Her son-in-law and Tendo Akane had been physically close, almost touching! That did not bode well at all, not one bit. This was a powerful cataclysmic events on the flow of destiny in Nerima, such a force only meant one thing...  
"So, you've made your choice son-in-law." Cologne frowned. "But I will make certain that you learn the error of your ways." With that she turned and bounded out of the Tendo yard making it over the wall in one huge hop before taking to the roof tops to return to the Nekohautan.  
  
Where the hell am I now?, the perpetually Lost Boy asked himself. One minute he was walking down a street of what looked like New York City, suddenly he was in a sweltering jungle and realized it was Borneo again, then he was here in what looked like Japan because the street signs were all in Nihongo kanji characters. A young boy about fifteen or so came riding by on his bicycle. Habiki Ryuga stretched out his arm, caught the youth, and his bike continued on without him until it crashed.  
"HEY!"  
"Is this Tokyo?" Ryuga demanded.  
"You nearly trashed my bike you baka!" the boy protested.  
"Answer me or you'll be wearing that bike." The Lost Boy warned.  
The kid was taken aback by this, mostly because this guy who didn't seem that much older than he was held him off the ground with one arm and wasn't even straining. "Uh, yeah, you're in the ward of Nerima mister."  
"I'm back in Nerima?!" Ryuga exclaimed and dropped the kid. The young boy took no time in recovering his bike and high tailing it out of there.  
"Huh?" Ryuga looked up and suddenly recognized the set of gates in front of him. "Akane's house."  
Ranma sat in the sitting room sipping his afternoon tea. Nabiki sat in front of the television watching her favorite Anime program about a young high school kid who has a bunch of alien girls all going ape over him. If the story weren't so science fiction-ish Ranma could almost have sympathized with the guy. As it was Ranma was feeling really good. He and Akane just had that "talk" and that wonderful kiss. The memory of it brought back that feeling of electricity that went through him. Akane had gone off to the bathroom to wash up before dinner. She stepped out wearing a simple skirt and blouse intending to join Ranma at the table. Her eyes caught motion nearly the shoji doors and she spied a familiar, small black form.  
"P-Chan, where have you been you naughty widdle piggy." Akane cooed over the cute little animal.  
Ranma groaned. Of all the times he's gotta show up, why now?, he fumed in his thoughts. Just as everything between him and Akane were suddenly going so well "Mister I can't find my way out a wet paper bag with a talking GPS receiver strapped to my chest" had to show up to spoil his good mood. Ranma promised not to reveal Ryuga secret, but the Lost Boy turned around and abused that promise by sleeping with Akane. Of course, Ranma wasn't afraid of Ryuga doing anything. Even looking at a girl wearing a bra in a department store catalog was enough to send the baka into epileptic shock. He had also made a promises to Akane he intended to keep, he wanted their relationship to work. Not for their fathers but because he genuinely cared for Akane very much.  
Akane sat down next to him and the little black pig growled at him. To Ranma's surprise Akane lightly wrapped the little animal on the nose. The tiny animal look almost shocked at that, Akane never hit him before for any reason.  
"P-Chan, be nice, it's Ranma he won't hurt you." She said.  
Oh yeah, watch me., Ranma replied silently to himself.  
"So did you think about where we should go tonight?" Akane asked her iinazuke.  
Ranma scratched his head in thought. "Well, I'm not sure, this is the first time I've actually wanted to go on a date with you."  
Akane laughed. She failed to notice the truly shocked and horrified expression on her little P-Chan's face. "Well, think of something."  
"Uh, I hear that traveling carnival is back in town." Ranma suggested.  
Akane leaned over and kissed her iinazuke on the cheek. "Sounds like fun."  
Ranma smiled a broad smiled, both because Akane was happy, and because the little pig's eyes had grown so wide they looked like they were about to fly out of their sockets. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, baka., Ranma thought looking at Ryuga. He and Akane were trying to make things between them work, he wasn't about to let Ryuga undercut his efforts. The little pig looked at Ranma with an expression of pure hatred, the young Saotome could only guess at what the pig headed Lost Boy was thinking.  
Damn you Saotome, what have you done to Akane, she'd never be this nice to you., Ryuga's thoughts raged. It was the thoughts of Akane rejecting him that allowed Ryuga to defeat the hulking Musk warrior Lime. In a fit of immense despair he released the mother of all Shi Shi Hokadons. Of course the despair had been of own doing, imagining Akane telling him off like she did at his insistence when he was trying to learn the chi technique.  
Ranma took Akane's hand in his and she smiled at him. She was feeling so much better now than she ever did since Ranma first arrived at her home. Many barriers between them have been shattered, many more still had yet to be taken down, but in time even these would not be able to stand long. She squeezed his hand affectionately and felt her face burn. She was blushing, blushing for Ranma. That was something Akane never thought she be doing in a million years, but here she was blushing like a giddy lovesick little girl. She liked it.  
"We keep this up we might actually fall in love." She said softly.  
"Maybe we have but we just can't admit it---YOWWWWW!" Ranma yelped as P-Chan clamped his jaws down on his arm. Akane gasped in shock and smacked the little animal on the bottom. She did it again!, Ryuga gasped but it came out of his mouth as a "Bwee!" He felt himself being whisked away through the house, then recognized the wash room where the washer and dryer were kept.  
"Bad P-Chan, you'll stay here until you learn to be a good piggy!" Akane scowled down at the little animal and closed the door on him.  
Ranma when I get some hot water you're going to pay for this!, Ryuga exclaimed. On the other side of the door Akane heard, "Bwee! Bweeeee! Bweeeeeee!" What's gotten into P-Chan, why's he so angry all of a sudden?, she wondered before return to the sitting room. Ranma was rubbing his arm and already determined the bite hadn't drawn any blood.  
"You ok, I don't know what came over P-Chan." She apologized.  
Wait until I see you in human form, baka., Ranma thought to himself. He replied, "Eh, maybe he's just jealous, I hear pets can get that way."  
"Still he shouldn't be biting people like that." Akane said.  
Ryuga, I promised to keep your secret but you abused that promise, I'm not going to let you take advantage of Akane anymore, but how do I tell her?, he wondered. His eyes went to Nabiki who was still sitting at the TV watching her shows. I wonder., he thought.  
"Uh, when do you want to go?" he asked Akane.  
"Oh, after dinner, we'll have plenty of time before it gets too late." She smiled.  
"Ok." Nabiki suppressed a sudden shudder, she liked it better when those two were still fighting. All this lovie dovie stuff was grating on the nerves, besides it was also going eat into her profits. She wasn't going to be able to set bets on how long it be before her sister belted Ranma into the school swimming pool everyday anymore. Well, at least I won't have to pay for repairs to the house anymore., she sighed quietly.  
A sudden crash issued from inside the house and a battle cry resounded, "SAOTOME RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!!!!"  
"Ryuga, when did he get here?" Akane wondered.  
The Lost Boy appeared swinging his trademark lead lined umbrella at Ranma's head. The young martial artist ducked the blow easily and leapt over the table putting distance between himself and Akane to protect her.  
"You baka, you could have hit Akane!" he yelled at the Lost Boy.  
"It would have been your fault!" Ryuga yelled back and struck again.  
Ranma flowed around the clumsy swipe. "How is it everything that happens to you always somehow ends up being my fault?" he asked.  
"Shut up you!" Ryuga raged and pressed the attack.  
The fight went out the shoji doors and into the back yard. The Lost Boy worked his umbrella like a sword but Ranma easily evaded all of his attacks. Ryuga made one quick downward strike but Ranma leapt up out of the way. Ryuga brought the weapon back up and discovered Ranma perched on it as if he were balancing on a tight rope.  
"HOW ARE YOU TRY AND STEAL AKANE FROM ME!" Ryuga dropped the weapon, turned swiftly and raised his hands. Ranma saw the green energy ball of a Shi Shi Hokadon forming. The chi blast narrowly missed Ranma as he somersaulted out of its area of effect and landed on the roof of the Tendo house.  
Akane ran outside, she knew she didn't stand of chance of stopping Ryuga, when he was enraged he was like a rampaging bull elephant. There was no stopping him short of killing him. So, she did the only thing she thought would snap him out of his blind rage. After running outside she dipped her cut into the koi pond, ran up to the boy and yelled his name. "RYUGA!"  
True to his nature the boy turned around to look at her. He didn't even notice the cup of water in her hand as she brought it up to splash it in his face before it was too late. Akane gasped in shock when Ryuga suddenly vanished the instant the water touched him. For a brief second his clothes hung in the air before collapsing to the ground in a heap.  
"You had this coming for a long time baka." Ranma whispered to himself.  
"R-R-R-Ryuga?" Akane looked down at the pile of clothes in horrified astonishment. It did not take her long to understand what just happened. She'd been around Ranma and had seen Mousse and Shampoo transform enough times to know a Josenkyo cursed person when she saw one. What she wasn't expecting was what crawled out of the pile of clothes. At first she refused to believe what she was seeing. After the first mortified "Bwee!" from the little creature Akane back away shacking her head.  
"No, no, NO!" she exclaimed.  
"Bwee." Ryuga oinked. Akane, this is all Ranma's fault you must see that., he was trying to say.  
"Why Ryuga, why?" Akane cried. "I trusted you!"  
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Ranma apologized after jumping down off the roof.  
"What, you mean you knew about this!?" now Akane regarded him with anger.  
Ranma raised his hands in defense and said, "I promised not to reveal his secret because it was sorta my fault he got cursed in the first place."  
"It was?" Akane blinked.  
"It's the Code of Boshido, never reveal other warrior's weaknesses." Ranma explained. "I was honor bound not to tell anyone. Remember when I told you about how he challenged me back when we were in middle school and how he didn't show up after four days. Well, that was before me and pop left for China, before Josenkyo."  
Akane looked down at the terrified little animal and realized, "He must have followed you then, didn't he."  
"Akane, I didn't wanna hurt ya by not telling ya about Ryuga." Ranma admitted. "I'm sorry." He looked down at his feet expected the usual mallet to the head technique to come very soon. Instead he felt her hand on his cheek, he looked up at her and she smiled at him.  
"I believe you." She said softly.  
She looked down at her P-Chan and asked, "Is this way he's always so mad at you, how did it happen?"  
She's taking this way better than I ever though., Ranma was surprised. "I didn't know it happened until after he told me. I guess he showed up after me and pop got cursed, and when I was chasing pop around the place he got in the way and got accidentally knocked into the Spring of Drowned Pig."  
"You made a solemn promise to keep his shame a secret, then he turns around and abuses that trust by-" Akane started to say and Ranma saw a burning rage spark into existence within the girl's eyes.  
She turned and snatched up the little pig. "Excuse me for a moment." She said in a happy way that set Ranma's danger sense to Defcon One. First he watched her carry "P-Chan" into the house then followed along after her. She went into the bathroom and tossed the little black pig into the furo. The instant he touched the warm water Ryuga appeared in all his naked manly glory.  
"Akane, now do you understand, its all Ranma's fault, everything is his fault!" the Lost Boy exclaimed. He was about to say something more but Akane's hand slapped him across the face silencing him into shock.  
"How dare you use me like this!" she yelled. "I can't believe you used your curse to sneak into my bed! What kind of pervert are you?!"  
"RANMA'S THE PERVERT NOT ME!" Ryuga cried.  
"Ranma did nothing wrong, in fact I think your obsessed, obsessed with blaming Ranma for things that are obviously your fault but you're too stupid to admit it to yourself!" she shot back. "Either that or your crappy sense of direction also effects that pig headed brain of yours in other ways too!"  
"Akane?" Ryuga gasped. He couldn't believe Akane was talking to him like this.  
"Don't Akane me you baka, give me one good reason why I shouldn't pound you right now!" she demanded.  
"I never meant to hurt you, I never ever touched you, I promise." He pleaded. "Ranma you baka you're going to pay for this!"  
Akane put her hand up blocking his way. "Touch one hair on his head, Ryuga, and you will never be allowed to step foot in this house ever again for the rest of your life."  
"I know you didn't try anything, you can't go to the beach without passing out from blood loss!" Akane went on angrily. "Why did you do it then?"  
"Because, I-I-I-"  
"He's got the hots for you that's why." Ranma answered for him. "The guys as obsessed with you as Mousse is with Shampoo."  
Akane gaped first at Ranma then at Ryuga. "You call this love, because I sure don't!" she seethed. "You don't have enough backbone to tell me how you feel to my face so you sneak into my BED!"  
"This is why you were always fighting with P-Chan, isn't it Ranma." Akane realized. "You couldn't tell me about his secret but you've been trying to protect me from him at the same time, and I hit you for it."  
She softly touched Ranma face and pleaded, "Can you forgive me?"  
"I already have." He smiled.  
"As for you, baka, I don't want to see your face around her for a long time!" Akane turned towards Ryuga. "I don't know if I'll ever trust you again. I considered you a friend and only as a friend, but after this I don't know anymore so don't come around for a while. As for any chance that you and me could get together you'd better forget about it, me and Ranma are serious about trying to make things work between us and we have enough trouble with Shampoo, Ukyo, Mousse, and Kodachi without you putting your two Yen in!"  
She let him get out of the furo with some modesty and had Kasumi dry out his clothes in the wash room. Soon Ryuga was dressed and at the front gates to the Tendo home. It pained him to see Akane standing beside Ranma, he baka had his arm around her. That should be HIM there holding her. Just you wait Ranma, I'm gonna get Akane away from you one way or another., the Lost Boy seethed inwardly.  
"Now know she was going to find out sooner or later." Said Nabiki.  
"You mean you knew about this too?" Akane gasped looking at her sister.  
"Yeah, it was fun watching him squirm." Nabiki smirked.  
"She found out on her own and blackmail Ryuga into doing thing for her or she'd tell you his secret." Ranma explained.  
"Nabiki?!" Akane said with a betrayed expression.  
"Akane, I'll be back and I'll prove I'm the better man for you." Ryuga said in a determined tone.  
"You can try, but it won't make a difference." Akane told him and put her arm around Ranma. The act of her doing so sent a wave of despair and nausea through the Lost Boy. Even if I can't win her back, I'm still gonna make you pay Ranma., Ryuga promised silently to himself. With that the young Habiki picked up his backpack and umbrella and left down the street. After about what seemed like only a few minutes he was suddenly on a street corner in Saigon.  
  
Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu, rummaged through her chest of unique and ancient artifacts that belonged to Amazons for centuries. Many of these items had been stolen by Happosai long ago and this chest represented what was left of the treasured items owned by her clan. Shampoo sat in the background watching her with eagerness. She listened to what her great grand mother discovered and was not pleased at all. Ranma has chosen Akane. That could not be allowed. Normally Cologne would have balked at Shampoo using magical items to win her airen but desperate times called for desperate measures. The boy made a fatal error incurring the wrath of an Amazon matriarch and he would soon come to know how terrible a thing that can be.  
"Ah, yes, here it is." She said gleefully as she climbed out of the chest.  
"What that great grandma?" Shampoo asked.  
The item she held in her diminutive hands appeared to be an ordinary wire toothed hair comb with a mother-of-pearl handle. "It is the Comb of Suggestion." She answered. "Put this comb in someone's hair and they will be instantly susceptible to suggestion."  
"You mean put in Ranma's hair and he do what shampoo say?" Shampoo gasped in surprise.  
"Yes, child." Cologne walked over to her and handed the precious item to her great grand daughter. "Ordinarily I would not allow you to use such shortcuts to win your airen, but with recent developments it appears we have little choice."  
"Aiya! Shampoo no disappoint you." Shampoo beamed.  
"I know you won't my dear." Cologne smiled back. "Do not go now, it is not the right time, wait until you have him alone then make your move."  
"Yes, great grandma." Shampoo acknowledged.  
For a brief moment something in back of Cologne's mind told her this was a very bad idea. She could feel something was about to happen in Nerima but she wasn't sure what. Was it another change like before, another shifting of the springs of destiny. Cologne wasn't certain but she knew something very profound was about to occur in Nerima and very soon. Had she known to look she would have seen the beautiful swan soaring over the city headed for the heart of Nerima.  
**********  
Coming up next in Chapter One  
  
A mysterious stranger arrives at the Tendo household with startling news about Akane. Meanwhile, Shampoo plans to use the Comb of Suggestion to finally win over Ranma, but can Amazon magic overcome the power of true love? Find out in chapter one of "On Ethereal Wings". 


	2. Part 1

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty Productions, and Viz Communications.  
  
**********  
  
UPON ETHEREAL WINGS By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
See author's notes at the end of the chapter.  
  
**********  
  
Chapter One  
  
It was the dawning of a new day in Nerima Ward, a small city on the outskirts of Tokyo. Tendo Akane opened her eyes hearing the sound of birds chirping outside of her bedroom window. She looked up and saw not a cloud in the sky, it was a clear sunny morning. She felt better than she had in a long time. As she sat up in her bed she became immediately aware of a body next to her. Lifting the covers she found Saotome Ranma, her iinazuke, fast asleep and still wearing his Chinese outfit from yesterday. Akane's usual rage didn't surface this time though, she just sat there and studied the young man whom she would one day marry. Akane had to admit that Ranma was gorgeous, as both a man and a woman.  
  
The incident with "P-Chan" the day before totally ruined their plans to go on a date. That night Akane and Ranma went up to her bedroom and talked, and kissed, and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Eventually the two became very tired and snuggled up together on the bed. Before long the two had fallen fast asleep in each other's arms. Akane shook Ranma lightly to wake him, she knew he was a sound sleeper but didn't want to wake him the usual way, which involved a bucket of cold water. When he didn't awaken Akane got down low next to Ranma's ear and softly spoke his name.  
  
"Ranma, Ranma." she repeated but he didn't stir. "RANMA!!!!"  
  
The boy shot up bolt upright. "HUH, WHAT, WHERE!!!"  
  
"Good morning sleepy head." Akane smiled at him.  
  
Ranma looked around and suddenly realized where he was. "Uh, did we-?"  
  
"I guess we fell asleep talking to each other last night." Akane blushed.  
  
"So, we like, didn't-?" Ranma couldn't finished the sentence.  
  
Akane laughed and blushed at the same time, "No silly, we kissed some but we didn't do that.  
  
"Oh, well, uh, I'm sure if we had I would've remembered it." Ranma blushed.  
  
"Yeah, me too." Akane blushed furiously.  
  
When they climbed out of bed Ranma pulled Akane into his arms and kissed her softly. The Tendo girl sighed, her hands on his chest felt the tight ropey muscles there that were as hard as mortared bricks. Ranma's whole body was muscle, he could lift a car up over his head literally without straining himself! When they parted Akane opened her door, and a flood of bodies fell inward.  
  
"AKANE AND RANMA HAVE SLEPT TOGETHER, AT LONG LAST THE SCHOOLS WITH FINALLY BE JOINED!" Akane's father cried in a bull horn.  
  
"AT LAST YOU HAVE BECOME A MAN!" read the sign in Genma's panda paw.  
  
"Oh my, sex before marriage Akane just isn't proper." Kasumi gasped.  
  
Nabiki held up her camera and snapped a picture. "Say cheese!"  
  
"DADDY!" Akane shouted.  
  
"POP!" Ranma yelled.  
  
"WE SLEPT TOGETHER BUT WE DIDN'T SLEEP TOGETHER!!!!" they both chorused.  
  
"Yeah, we stayed up talking and fell asleep, nothing happened!" Akane explained.  
  
Happosai bounded into the room and bopped Ranma over the head with his pipe. "You mean you slept in Akane's room all night and you didn't once take advantage of her!" Happosai fumed. "I'm disappointed in you Ranma!"  
  
"I'm not like you, you old pervert!" snarled Ranma.  
  
The two iinazuke turned towards a hideous sound. Their fathers were dancing around the room singing, "THE SCHOOLS WILL BE JOINED, THE SCHOOLS WILL JOINED, LA, LA, LA, LA, THE SCHOOLS WILL FINALLY BE JOINED!!!"  
  
"So you two didn't do anything?" Nabiki asked suspiciously.  
  
"NO!" Akane and Ranma shouted.  
  
But, Akane looked at Ranma and blushed, "Well, we did kiss some, but we didn't get any more intimate than that."  
  
Ranma nodded, "That's all that happened."  
  
Ranma felt a firm hand clamp onto his shoulder, he looked up into Tendo Soun's serious face. "Nevertheless Ranma, you slept in my daughter's bed, and now you have to do the right thing." he said sternly.  
  
"But we didn't do anything!" Ranma shot back at him.  
  
"YOU WILL DO WHAT'S RIGHT!!!" Soun's Demon Head hissed in rage.  
  
Ranma turned faster than anybody could follow with the naked eye, scooped up Akane into his arms, and bounded out of the window. He leapt up onto the rooftops and kept on running until they were well away from the Tendo dojo. Finally, they reached the top of a large building near the market district and Ranma sat Akane down. Her legs were a bit wobbly at first, and she felt as if she left her stomach way back in her bedroom.  
  
"I had to get us out of there." he told her.  
  
"Its ok, I don't blame you." Akane smiled at him. "They were totally blowing this whole thing out of proportions."  
  
"You know they're not gonna give us any rest now." Ranma sighed and sat down.  
  
Akane sighed and sat down next to him, "Yeah, I know."  
  
"Akane." he said.  
  
"Yeah." she replied.  
  
"There's only one way to get them off our backs, you know that don't you?" he asked her.  
  
Akane nodded, "Yeah."  
  
"Akane, let's just do it." he said.  
  
She turned to him, "But would that really solve our problems?"  
  
"We'd have the pressure off us at home, and we can handle Kuno, but it probably wouldn't make a difference to Shampoo." Ranma replied.  
  
"I know, but we've only been together as a 'real' couple since last night." Akane looked into his eyes. "This would be a huge step."  
  
"Nothing much would really change except your dad and my pop would make us share the same bedroom, we'd still have school and stuff." Ranma explained.  
  
"I know but-" she started to say as Ranma came around in front of her and kneeled down on one knee.  
  
"Tendo Akane, will you marry me?" he asked her while looking into her eyes.  
  
"Ranma." Akane gasped softly.  
  
"I was thinking last night, about us, about everything, and well, I got to thinking that maybe things would be better off it we was married." he said softly. "I was going to ask you last night, but we were so tired, and it felt so comfortable laying there with you-" All the while he was talking Akane could not take her eyes off of Ranma's blue eyes. She was captivated by their blue depths, the way they sparkled in the morning sunlight. They were the eyes that made girls swoon just looking at them. In that moment she knew there was only one answer she could give deep within her heart.  
  
"Yes." she whispered.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma gaped in surprise.  
  
She smiled and repeated, "Yes."  
  
"Y-Y-You will?" he said surprised.  
  
"Yes!" Akane flung her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately with all the emotion she had coursing through her.  
  
"I love you." Ranma whispered into Akane's ear when they're lips parted and they held each other.  
  
"I love you too." Akane replied in a whisper also, tears streaming down her face.  
  
They shared another kiss, this time they poured their emotions into it even more deepening the contact. Soon they were bounding over the rooftops again headed for home. Akane rested her head against Ranma's shoulder feeling a little like Jane to Ranma's Tarzan and loving every minute of it. Unbeknownst to both they were being watched from the ground below. Shampoo sat on her "Bicycle of Death" as she watched them bound from rooftop to rooftop.  
  
"Soon, very soon that be Shampoo that airen hold in arms." Shampoo thought out loud. She took the Comb of Suggestion out of her Chinese blouse and looked at it. "Soon, Shampoo finally win man she love."  
  
Back at home the two iinazuke didn't give their parents time to start harassing them about marriage. They had already agreed to talk to them about it after school that same day. Akane and Ranma both ran into the bathroom together, knowing that if they took separate baths that they'd be separately ambushed by both parents on the subject of a wedding. Slowly and tentatively at first the two undressed together in the changing room and slipped into the bathroom. They both blushed furiously as they set about washing.  
  
"We'll have to get used to seeing each other naked." Akane realized.  
  
"Heck, we've already seen each other naked before, remember." Ranma said over her shoulder after a good douse of cold water.  
  
"How could I forget that." Akane laughed.  
  
Ranma blushed and said, "You're still as pretty now as you were back then."  
  
Akane turned around to regard her and blushed, "You really mean that Ranma?"  
  
Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I never really meant those things I said to you about you not having sex appeal and being built like a stick and all."  
  
"Thank you. Ranma." Akane smiled.  
  
"Do you want to know the truth about something?" Akane asked.  
  
"Uh huh?" Ranma nodded.  
  
"I like you the way you are, your curse never really did bother me, well at first it did, but then later I sorta got used to it." Akane admitted. Then she turned to face her iinazuke and looked into those beautiful blue eyes. "I don't care of you ever find a cure for your curse, Ranma, I love you whether you're a girl or a boy." she went on.  
  
Ranma turned to face her, her breasts bouncing with her movements, "You mean that?"  
  
Akane nodded, "Yeah, I-I mean it."  
  
"So, you don't mind if I give you a kiss right now, as a girl." Ranma said with a smile.  
  
"Not at all." she told her, then leaned in and kissed Ranma softly on the lips. When they came back up for air the two found they had gone into each other's arms, their bodies pressed together.  
  
"You're still Ranma whether you're a boy or a girl, and I love you." Akane told her.  
  
Ranma looked into her eyes and said, "This'll take some getting used to."  
  
"We'll have plenty of time after we're married." Akane smiled coyly.  
  
"Unless our parents ambush us as we leave the bathroom, whisk us off to a temple, and force us to get married today." Ranma laughed.  
  
Akane shushed her with a finger to her lips, "Don't give them any ideas, that's something they'd definitely do."  
  
Ranma laughed, "Ok."  
  
"Turn around and I'll scrub your back." Akane told her and picked up her washcloth. Ranma did so without hesitation. Later she turned around and did the same for Akane. About another douse of cold water to wash off the soap the two slowly helped each other into the furo. Akane watched as Ranma instantly reverted back to male form so quickly she couldn't even see the transformation.  
  
"I've seen it happen a million times but it still amazes me." she said.  
  
Ranma sat down next to her and put his arm around Akane's waist. "You know, Prince Herb has the same curse I do."  
  
"I figured that from the way he acted when we found out he had a female body." Akane replied. "He had the same look on his face as you did yours at times."  
  
"I couldn't have beaten him if it weren't for Ryoga and Mousse though." Ranma admitted. "They kept Lime and Mint off my back while I fought Herb."  
  
"They did?" Akane looked at him in surprise.  
  
"Yeah, they were trapped in their cursed forms by Herb until they got the kettle." Ranma explained. "Of course they turned around and tried to betray me but in the end they knew they couldn't make it out of that whole situation unless they helped me turn male again."  
  
Akane laughed, "Let me guess, Ryoga wanted to keep you female so he could have me, and Mousse wanted to keep you female so he could have Shampoo."  
  
"Gee, was it that obvious?" Ranma smirked.  
  
"From the way Ryoga acted last night I sorta got the idea he has a one track mind." Akane nodded.  
  
"More like half a track." Ranma snorted.  
  
"No, he's not quite as bad as Kuno." Akane smirked, then she laughed and Ranma joined her. "At least Ryoga knew when to do what was right, most of the time."  
  
"Hey, maybe we should look up that Golden Pair and tell that Asuza girl that her Charlotte is available." said Ranma.  
  
"Ugh!" Akane moaned. "I should have known what you two were fighting over that day, but I was too dense to figure it out."  
  
Ranma reached over and kissed Akane tenderly. Akane sighed and melted into Ranma's arms, not even really caring that they were both naked and Ranma was in male form. After their kiss ended Akane contently rested her head on Ranma's shoulder not wanting to be anywhere else but in his arms at moment. So much has changed in a day, or a night. It was like finally admitting their feelings for one another had opened the floodgates of their souls and now admitting and openly showing affection wasn't so hard to do or so embarrassing anymore.  
  
"We'll be late for school, we'd better go." Akane said, not really enthusiastic about leaving Ranma's embrace.  
  
"Yeah, and I smell breakfast." said Ranma.  
  
"Good ol' Ranma, always thinking with his stomach." Akane laughed.  
  
Sometime later Ranma and Akane were making good time on their way to school. Akane clung to Ranma as he bounded across the rooftops at breakneck speeds, and hid her face into Ranma's chest when they made death defying leaps over wide streets. Just out of sight of the main gates of the schoolyard they alighted to the sidewalk and continued on the ground at a considerably less heart pounding rate of speed. To their surprise they made it to the school grounds just in time, other students were already heading into the school building and the bell hadn't rung yet. The two walked together totally forgetting that they were at that moment holding hands. Several students who saw them, both girls and boys, gasped in shock and wonder at this sight. The spectacle did not go unnoticed by three certain pairs of eyes. One pair watched from behind a shrub in the school yard while holding a camera. The second watched from the school balcony while a hand almost reflexively reached up to grab the giant Baker's Peel strapped to her back. And the third came running with rage in his heart and thrust the tip of a bokken into Ranma's face.  
  
"Cretin, how dare you place your hand upon the person of the fair Tendo Akane in my presence!" Kuno snarled.  
  
"What's up Kuno." said Ranma totally unfazed by Kuno's rage.  
  
"No doubt you hold the fair Akane in the sway of some spell, or she would not consciously suffer herself your loathsome touch!" Kuno raged on. "Begone vile demon or Kuno Tatawaki shall send you back to Hades from whence you came!"  
  
"I hold hands with whoever I feel like!" Akane protested.  
  
"Fear not my lovely flower, for you know not what you say as you are under the thrall of this vile creature!" Kuno cried as he grabbed Akane into his arms. "Though your tongue speaks one thing, I know your heart speaks another!"  
  
"And they both say, GET LOST!" Akane shouts and boots Kuno over the school building.  
  
"Good kick, but Kuno would get more air time if you jumped and kicked at the same time adding more power to the blow." Ranma told her.  
  
Akane smiled, "I'll remember that."  
  
Everyone's jaw threatened to make craters where they stood as Ranma put his arm around Akane without her half killing him and they walked into the school. They made it to homeroom on time so they didn't have to stand out in the hall, and in no time lunch time came around. Usually Akane and Ranma would go separate ways for lunch at school, but today was different, and everyone was noticing the difference. The two went to the cafeteria together. Ranma held Akane's tray while holding his own while she got them lunch, then they choose a table for themselves that was unoccupied and sat across from one another. All the while the two could "feel" hundreds of eyes on them, and didn't even care. They really didn't notice when a certain spatula wielding girl came and sat next to them.  
  
"Hey, Ranma honey, Akane." Ukyo greeted them.  
  
"Hi Ukyo." Ranma returned the greeting.  
  
"So, what's going on with you two?" the girl asked. "I saw something pretty strange this morning."  
  
"Nothing strange happened this morning." said Akane.  
  
"Uh, you guys were holding hands." Ukyo replied with a frown.  
  
"Ukyo, we gotta talk, but not right now, not in school." Ranma told her. "Me and Akane both gotta talk to you."  
  
Ukyo looked at Ranma and then Akane and back again. "Ranma honey, what are you trying to say?"  
  
"We can't say here, too many prying ears." Ranma said looking over at where Kuno was sitting and glowering towards them. Gosunkugi Hikaru sat further away holding one of his trademark voodoo dolls dressed win black pants and red Chinese tunic.  
  
There was something in the way Ranma looked at Akane just then that made a pit form in Ukyo's stomach. Suddenly she didn't really feel like lunch. "I-I-I gotta go, I'll see you later." she stammered and ran from the lunch room.  
  
"She knows." said Akane quietly.  
  
"I wish we could make it easier on her, I don/t love her, but I still care about her." Ranma sighed. "Its all pop's fault, he's the one who did this to her not me."  
  
"We'll find a way to satisfy her family honor, I know we will." said Akane.  
  
"There's more to it than that, honor is one thing, but how can repairing her honor repair her heart or her life." Ranma said and he was suddenly unable to eat.  
  
"Like you said Ranma, it wasn't your fault." Akane told him. "It was your father who promised you to her and then ran off with her dowry leaving her behind."  
  
Ranma reached across the table and took Akane's hand. Across the room the two could hear a table being split in half with a bokken. "Yeah, she's as much a victim of my pop's stupidity as I am."  
  
"She's more of a friend than a rival too, really." Akane nodded.  
  
Kuno Tatawaki was uncharacteristically quiet the rest of the day, which gave Akane and Ranma some much needed breathing room. They did notice a certain mousy shadow hiding just out of sight snapping pictures. Except for the paper dolls incident Gosunkugi Hikaru was pretty harmless so Ranma ignored him, but didn't let his guard down either. On their way home Ranma could not help but notice the looks many students were giving them, some were happy, some surprised, and others were outright aggression. Akane had many admirers in Furinken High School. Kuno had over eighty boys going after her everyday before Ranma came on the scene. Shortly after seeing what Ranma was capable of doing against Kuno, Ryoga, and Mousse the Hentai Horde all but vanished. Nobody in their right mind at Furinken High School would challenge Saotome Ranma, but then Kuno Tatawaki wasn't exactly in his right mind.  
  
Instead of taking the high road home over the rooftops the two iinazuke walked together holding hands. It was a beautiful day with a sunny cloudless sky. They were not in any hurry to get back home, not that they dreaded getting there, but that they wanted to make this moment last just a little longer. When they get to the house they knew a long discussion with their parents was in order. Of course, the two were going to be overjoyed with what they were going to hear from their children. Ranma and Akane wanted to get married, and as they both thought it over they came to realize that it would actually take a lot of the pressure off of them if they did just go ahead and get it over with. A formal ceremony with guests could come later when they were financially stable enough for it. There was the question of children, but they could both wait on that. This mean that they'd both have to be very careful up until then.  
  
Akane asked Ranma if they could take a detour to Dr. Tofu's office on the way home, and Ranma didn't see why not. They entered the clinic and the doctor came out carrying Betty his skeleton. "Oh, hello Akane, Ranma." he said cheerfully. "Any injuries today?"  
  
"No, actually I came to ask you about something doctor." Akane told him.  
  
"Oh?" Dr. Tofu looked at her. "Anything wrong?"  
  
"Uh, Ranma, could you wait here?" Akane asked her iinazuke. "This is sort of a private thing."  
  
Ranma nodded, "Oh, one of them girl things, yeah, ok." He took a seat in the waiting room while Dr. Tofu escorted Akane into one of the examination rooms.  
  
"Having menstrual problems?" the doctor asked her.  
  
"No, uh, I wanted to ask, uh." Akane stammered.  
  
"You can talk to me Akane, what you say here never leaves this room." Dr. Tofu reassured her.  
  
"D-D-D-Do you have anything for birth control?" Akane finally asked. "Besides condoms, I don't think Ranma would think they're manly."  
  
Tofu Ono raised his eyebrow in a classic Spock Maneuver, "Oh, so you and Ranma have become sexually active, eh?"  
  
Akane blushed, "N-N-Not yet, we're going to get married soon, but we don't want to have kids right away.,"  
  
"How soon?" the Doc asked.  
  
"As soon as possible." Akane replied.  
  
"Hmmm."  
  
"Can you help us?"  
  
The Doc raised his finger saying, "I think I can." He quickly left the room and returned a short time later holding a bottle of pills.  
  
"Have you heard of RU486?" he asked her.  
  
Akane shook her head, "No."  
  
"Well, this is similar to it." Dr. Tofu explained. "RU486 is known as the 'Morning After Pill', its prevents pregnancy after the fact, in Western countries they call it the 'Abortion Pill'."  
  
"Oh, no, if my father found out I was using something like that he'd be livid, he's against abortion, and I have no idea what Ranma's stand on it is." Akane told him.  
  
"Not to worry, I call this the 'Night Before Pill'." Tofu explained. "It is a combination of special medicinal herbs that causes your reproductive cycle to go dormant temporarily." He handed her the bottle. Akane popped the lid and looked inside. The pills looked orange and translucent like Vitanim E pills.  
  
"Take one every other day and everything should be fine, and no side effects." the Doc told her. "I've administered this to many of my patients."  
  
"Thank you, Dr. Tofu." Akane beamed.  
  
"You're welcome." Tofu replied.  
  
"Everything ok with her Doc?" Ranma asked when they returned to the waiting room.  
  
"All is well Ranma." Dr. Tofu told him and winked at him.  
  
"Uh." Ranma let out not know what that was about.  
  
"Remember Akane, one every two days." Tofu told Akane.  
  
Akane nodded, "Got it Doctor, and thanks again."  
  
When they were finally outside Ranma looked over at Akane questioningly. He wasn't sure what Akane wanted to see Dr. Tofu about, and what was that wink all about too. Finally, Ranma got up the nerve to ask her about it. When he did Akane held up the bottle of pills.  
  
"You're not sick are you?" he asked.  
  
"No baka." she replied affectionately. "These are for after we get married."  
  
"You need pills for marriage?" Ranma was totally confused.  
  
Akane blushed intensely and told him, "Yes, if we don't want to have babies right away."  
  
"B-B-B-B-Babies?!" Ranma stammered.  
  
"They're birth control pills, baka." Akane blushed.  
  
"OH!" Ranma said finally getting it and wiped sweat from his brow.  
  
"Geeze, don't buzz my tower like that." he want on.  
  
Akane gave him a sheepish grin, "Why not, you look so cute when you get all nervous and flustered like that."  
  
Something suddenly set off Ranma's danger sense, he put out his arm to block Akane's path. "We're being watched." he whispered. He fell into a defensive crouch in front of her and looked around for danger.  
  
Akane looked around, both ways down the street and at the rooftops all around but saw nothing. "I don't see anything." she said.  
  
"They're close." Ranma warned.  
  
"Shampoo?" Akane assumed.  
  
Ranma shook his head, "No, doesn't feel familiar, this isn't somebody we know."  
  
This was starting to make the hair on the back of Akane's head stand up on end. She grabbed his arm and started pulling him down the street. "Come on, Ranma y-y-you're scaring me, lets get home." she told him. He nodded and followed her while still looking around for the presence he sensed. On a rooftop above them, from a hidden vantage point, a graceful swan looked down at them. When the pair were far down the street the beautiful fowl spread its wings, leapt from the building and soared into the clear blue sky.  
  
As the two two had expected the dojo was in total pandemonium, with emphasis on the word "panda". Sometime during the day Soun and Genma had gathered together dozens of wedding catalogs for dresses, decorations, and all sorts of other things one would expect at a major wedding. It took both Akane and Ranma to bring both men, well one man and one panda, down off of cloud nine so they could talk to them. When the sitting room was finally cleared of the wedding stuff and Kasumi served some tea the discussion began. Ranma elected to go first.  
  
"Pop, Mr. Tendo, Akane and I have done some talking and we've decided we want to get married now." he told them.  
  
The two men were about to suddenly go into hysterics with party horns and streamers to celebrate the pending marriage but a warning cry from Akane brought both back to Earth. "No big ceremony, only family and Dr. Tofu and that's it, no guests." she said.  
  
"B-B-But Akane, this is a big event, the schools are finally being joined, we have to celebrate it." Soun protested.  
  
"Yeah!" read Genma's sign.  
  
"And can you guarantee that certain people won't show up to try and stop such a wedding?" Akane asked. "I can just imagine what would happen if Shampoo got wind of what we were planning, let alone what Kuno would do, or Kodachi, or Ukyo, or who know who else if either after me or Ranma."  
  
"That's why we want a simple private ceremony, and we can have a full blown wedding with all the trimmings later when all this insanity is finally taken care of." Ranma supported her.  
  
"No big party, no reception?" Soun looked downtrodden.  
  
"Later, when we have the second wedding, right now we just want to get married and make it a simple ceremony." said Akane.  
  
Genma tapped the man on the shoulder and showed him his sign, "Tendo, at least they're finally getting married."  
  
Soun turned back to them asking, "When would you like to do this?"  
  
"Next week, or as soon as possible." Ranma explained.  
  
Soun nodded, "Alright, I'll start making the preparations, and you said you want Dr. Tofu there also."  
  
"Yeah, he's almost like a part of the family." said Akane. "He's been there for us ever since before momma died so me and Ranma both want him to be there."  
  
"One other thing." Ranma said shooting a glance over at Nabiki. "Certain people are not to get wind of this whatsoever, and if I find out they do learn about this and they try to stop it I'll know who to blame."  
  
Nabiki shuddered under Ranma's gaze. She knew very well what the young man could do when angry. Being the target of Saotome Ranma's wrath was not something she'd find very pleasant. After all, on the news she heard about the destruction of the mountain where Ranma confronted Herb. Ranma had destroyed a whole mountain fighting that Musk warlord, so of course she had a damn good reason to be afraid of him if not also secretly be envious of her sister. Ranma may be a superhuman martial artists, but he's also a certifiable mega-hunk.  
  
"I get the point Ranma, these lips are sealed." Nabiki said making zipper motion over her mouth.  
  
"Good, you can sell your info after the wedding." he told her.  
  
"Even though it will be just us, I can still try out a few of mother's recipes for a dinner after the wedding." Kasumi smiled.  
  
"That would be nice Kasumi, and it would give you a chance to cook a meal for Dr. Tofu." Akane replied and Kasumi blushed lightly.  
  
"Yes, it would, I've made him pastries from time to time, but never a whole meal before." the eldest Tendo sister blushed even more deeply. Kasumi heard a sound out in the yard and turned to look. Out beyond the shoji doors she saw a beautiful swan paddling around in the koi pond.  
  
"Oh my, father look." she pointed.  
  
Soun gasped, "It's a omen, a good omen!"  
  
Ranma frowned, he had that same sudden sense he had before out on the street, like they were being watched by something or somebody. "Where did it come from?" he wondered out loud.  
  
"It's a sign from the spirits of our ancestors blessing the wedding of Ranma and Akane!" Soun cried streaming tears of joy.  
  
"Truly a divine miracle." read Genma's sign.  
  
"It is an omen, but for good or ill, that still remains to be seen." said a voice from outside. Everyone looked up but all they could see was the swan looking in at them from the pond.  
  
"Who said that?" Akane asked.  
  
"Somebody's out there." said Ranma as he took a fighting stance.  
  
"You have nothing to fear from me, Saotome Ranma." said the voice again, and this time with everyone looking they realized the voice came from the swan. "Yet."  
  
"OH MY!" Kasumi gasped.  
  
"I-I-It speaks, our ancestors have come to speak to us!" Soun sobbed.  
  
"W-W-Who are you?" asked Akane. In answer to her question the swan flapped its great wings and alighted on the porch overlooking the pond. It shook itself off and waddled into the room to the surprise of everyone. Suddenly, the swan began to change shape before their eyes and quickly morphed into another form. Within minutes the swan was replaced by a rather comely looking old woman. Clearly the years have been very good to her, she still had much of her beauty from youth. Her body was adorned in fine robes and she held a long staff gilded in gold and silver.  
  
"I am Lady Ambrosia, the Weaver of the Amazons." the old woman replied. "And I have come looking for you Tendo Akane."  
  
Ranma was suddenly between this strange old woman and Akane in a fighting stance. "I knew it!" he spat. "She's working for the old ghoul!"  
  
"Old ghoul?" Lady Ambrosia looked at him and cocked her head to one said and then laughed. "Oh, I see, I assume you're speaking of Matriarch Cologne. It is easy to understand why you would call her that as the years have not been as kind to her as they have been to me. Interesting nickname though, I bet it just burns her buns when you call her that."  
  
"What do you want with my daughter?" Soun asked apprehensively.  
  
The old woman looked at Akane said replied, "I have come all this way from China seeking Tendo Akane, because it is to her that I plan to bequeath my legacy."  
  
"HUH!?" everyone gasped in surprise.  
  
"My legacy is my knowledge, the knowledge to use the potential that is now beginning to awaken within you, Tendo Akane." she went on still looking at Akane.  
  
"Potential, within me?" Akane pointed at herself. "For what?"  
  
"To be a Weaver my dear." Lady Ambrosia said and gracefully passed her hand over her tea cup. The cup sudden rippled as if it were made of Jello or water somehow suspended in midair by an invisible force, then it flowed into a new shape become a figurine of a graceful swan.  
  
"Oh my." Kasumi gasped quietly in fascination.  
  
"H-H-How did you do that?" Akane gasped.  
  
The old woman smiled and said, "In time you too will learn to do this, and more Tendo Akane."  
  
"You want to train Akane to be a magician?" Ranma questioned her suspiciously.  
  
"What I do is not magic, some would say we Weavers are far more powerful than any wizard or sorceress." Ambrosia replied.  
  
"You call yourself a Weaver, a weaver of what my I ask?" Tendo Soun asked.  
  
Ambrosia nodded towards the Tendo patriarch and replied, "A Weaver of Reality."  
  
Akane held the ceramic figurine that had been a tea cup little more than an hour ago and still could not believe it. The material of the cup had been reshaped seamlessly into this form without loosing any of its intricate Japanese patterns. It was as if the cup had been melted down, poured into a mold, yet she had seen the thing change right before her eyes. And, the Amazon had said that 'she' would one day learn to do this sort of thing also. What Akane could not understand was why this Lady Ambrosia came to her. Ranma remained suspicious of the old woman, believing this was all a ploy to get him to go on a date with Shampoo, trick him into marrying her, or to get Akane out of the way. Since her arrival Lady Ambrosia showed no signs of being hostile, though.  
  
The three of them, Ranma, Akane and Lady Ambrosia sat in the middle of the dojo. They're discussion was for meant for Akane but Ranma had insisted on being present. Lady Ambrosia agreed on the condition that Ranma would not interfere in anything that happened. Reluctantly he agreed, he was as curious as Akane was about what all this was about and why did this Amazon want to pass on her knowledge to Akane rather than another Amazon like Shampoo or someone else.  
  
"You asked me, what is a Weaver, but before I answer that question I want to ask you a question." Lady Ambrosia said. "What is Reality?"\  
  
Akane gestured around the dojo with her hands. "All of this, I guess." she said.  
  
"You are partially right." Lady Ambrosia explained. "Everything that you see, touch, taste, hear, and feel in the universe if a manifestation of Reality. Now here is another interesting question, what causes Reality?"  
  
Akane and Ranma looked at her with a baffled expression. "Uh, I don't know, um, the universe?" she replied.  
  
"The universe is a manifestation of Reality." Lady Ambrosia corrected her. "But what makes Reality possible?"  
  
Akane shook her head, "I don't know, the Kami maybe."  
  
"The answer is a combination of Space and Time." Lady Ambrosia smiled. "Space manifests all that you see, matter, light, energy, while Time allows us to move about in Space."  
  
"I never took Physics classes." Akane admitted.  
  
"Only a rudimentary knowledge of Physics is needed to understand the concepts I am going to teach you, Tendo Akane." Lady Ambrosia replied.  
  
"Earlier, you said you're a Weaver of Reality, what does that mean?" Akane asked her.  
  
"Space and Time are the Fabric of Reality, joined together they make up the universe around us." the old woman said as she gestured around the dojo. "They manifest the air we breath, the light we see with, everything in the universe comes from these two vital elements. But, there is a third element, an important one that few know exists, and even fewer know how to use it."  
  
"You weave reality, but that's impossible." Akane gasped in disbelief. She heard Ranma beside her grunt in agreement.  
  
"Is it?" Lady Ambrosia asked pointing at the figurine that had been a teacup. "Space and Time are our thread, the Universe is our tapestry, is it so incomprehensible, how did I shape that tea cup into a swan if I had not woven the fabric of reality that comprises it?"  
  
Akane still could not believe it. "But to do what you're saying you can do you'd have to be-"  
  
"A Kami, hardly." Lady Ambrosia interrupted her. "I admit that weaving reality does make it seem as if we Weavers possess the power of the Kami, but in truth our formidable talents are infinitesimal compared to those of the Pantheons of Heaven."  
  
"You say I have this talent?" Akane pointed to herself.  
  
"We call it the Gift, and yes my dear you possess it." Lady Ambrosia smiled at her.  
  
"This is all so-"  
  
"Overwhelming, confusing?" the old woman interrupted.  
  
"W-W-What is the third element?" Akane asked.  
  
Lady Ambrosia smiled and said, "As bricks require mortar to hold them together, so does the Space and Time need a mortar or glue to hold them together to create Reality." She gestured towards the swan figurine in Akane's hand and it reshaped back into a tea cup.  
  
"This third element is the stuff that binds Space and Time together, a force of immense power, yet despite this it is a maliable as clay, but only if one only knows how to mold it." Lady Ambrosia explained. "We call it the Etherium. If you can change the Etherium, then you can shape reality itself."  
  
"Incredible." Akane breathed as she examined the cup.  
  
"The Gift within you is awakening, Tendo Akane, you will need instruction in how to control this power, but I will not lie to you for this journey could be perilous." the old woman admitted. She saw Ranma shuffle a little closer to her intended apprentice when she said that.  
  
"In what way?" Akane asked a bit fearfully.  
  
"There was a man who once wrote, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'." Lady Ambrosia replied.  
  
"Adolph Hitler." said Akane. "We learned about him in our World History class in high school."  
  
"Yes, he was a madman but those words he wrote speak the truth." the old woman nodded. "To be a Weaver means to control a power that allows us to shape reality into whatever we will it be, and there have been some who have become slaves to the Gifts they have been born with. Too easily the power afforded by the Gift can become addictive, the temptation to use the power for your own gains becomes too great to resist, thus to be a Weaver means to possess great responsibility and to have even greater self- control."  
  
When she said this Ambrosia noticed Ranma shoot a very apprehensive look at Akane. This peaked the Amazon's curiosity a bit, so she decided to let him in on the conversation. "You seemed concerned, Saotome Ranma." she said. "Share with us your misgivings."  
  
"Uh!" he stammered. What he had been thinking at that moment had the risk of awakening the old Akane. His iinazuke was not known as the most self-controlled person in the world, but lately she had been exercising some of that control pretty well but mostly for a desire to make a relationship between them work.  
  
"Go on Ranma, I know what you're going to say." said Akane. "I don't exactly have a lot of self-control." All the times she booted skyward came to Akane's mind.  
  
"Well, I-uh-that is-" he stammered some more.  
  
"Ranma and I didn't always get along very well, I always took what he said the wrong way and came to all sorts of wrong conclusions about things he did." Akane explained.  
  
"Hey, it ain't like you're alone here, I got the same problem too ya know." Ranma said in her defense. "Besides, why is she wanting to train you to use this whatever it is she's talking about anyway? This could be one of the Old Ghoul's ploys to get me and Shampoo together."  
  
"I have nothing to do with the Matriarch's designs towards making you the husband of her great grand daughter." said Lady Ambrosia.  
  
"Ok, then why do ya wanna train Akane to do this stuff and not an Amazon like Shampoo or somebody else?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Because, she is The One." the old woman inclined her head towards Akane. "There is an ancient legend among our people that speaks of The One, she will be a Weaver who will surpass all other previous Weavers in power."  
  
"This is the part where you say we're all in a dreamworld and we've been turned into human batteries." Ranma scoffed.  
  
Lady Ambrosia laughed, "I've seen that movie too, Saotome Ranma."  
  
"I will not go into any further details now, neither of you are ready to know all that I know as of yet, but in time you will learn everything." she want on. "Know this, the world around you is indeed real, but for we Weavers it is only as real as we will it to be."  
  
"So there is no catch if I agree to become your apprentice?" Akane asked her. "Ranma doesn't have to date Shampoo or anything along those line?"  
  
Lady Ambrosia shook her head, "No, the Matriarch does not even know that I am here."  
  
"Until now." said a old, crackling voice. Everyone suddenly to see Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu, standing by one of the outside doors of the dojo while balancing on her staff.  
  
"I wondered how long it take before you felt my presence." said Lady Ambrosia with a smile. "I see the centuries have not dulled your senses."  
  
"You are here without the approval of the council I presume." said Cologne.  
  
"They would never understand." Lady Ambrosia told her. "I have found The One." She gestured towards Akane and Cologne's eyes went wide with shock.  
  
"Tendo Akane is The One?" she gasped. "I hope you are certain of this."  
  
The old Weaver closed her eyes and nodded, "There is no question, the flow of the Etherium around her is unlike anything I've seen around any Weaver."  
  
"How very interesting that two people with such incredible potential would be found in the same city." said Cologne as she regarded Ranma and Akane. "Even more interesting is that fact that those same two people would be engaged to one another. Whether they actually marry is another question."  
  
"I ain't gonna marry Shampoo, you old hag so get off it!" Ranma yelled at Cologne.  
  
"So the rumors of true, this young man is the one who defeated Prince Herb?" Lady Ambrosia asked the Matriarch.  
  
Cologne nodded, "Yes, and it is a very impressive accomplishment worthy of my great grand daughter."  
  
"Didn't you just hear him, he said he's not going to marry Shampoo." Akane spoke up.  
  
Cologne produced a bucket of water and quickly dumped it over Ranma's head. He felt the transformation take hold instantly. "What the hell was that for?!" female Ranma snarled.  
  
"A reminded son-in-law, a reminder of the situation you currently in." Cologne smirked. "It would be a shame if you were locked in you're female form once again."  
  
Ranma jumped up into a defensive crouch. "You ain't using that Cat's Tongue on me again." she hissed.  
  
"You have a Josenkyo curse?" Lady Ambrosia asked in wide eyed surprise.  
  
"Duh!" Ranma gaped at her pointing at her ample chest.  
  
The old Weaver turned to Cologne quickly and said in a forceful voice, "Stop this at once."  
  
"Excuse me?" Cologne gasped and looked at the other woman.  
  
"I will have words with you outside please, Matriarch." Lady Ambrosia said as she stood up with her staff.  
  
Ranma and Akane just looked at one another as Cologne and the old woman left the dojo closing the door behind them. The two elderly Amazons went to the far end of the yard and stopped when they reached the wall. Cologne turned to Lady Ambrosia with a disapproving scowl on her face.  
  
"How dare you speak to me in that tone of voice in front of my future son-in-law." she said angrily.  
  
"He cannot marry your great grand daughter, and you know the reasons why as much as I do." Lady Ambrosia looked down at her.  
  
Cologne folded her arms, "I know the legends, how do you know Ranma is the same one spoken of by our ancestors.?"  
  
"A warrior who is a man among men yet embodies the soul of a woman, I'd say Saotome Ranma fits the bill quite nicely." the old Weaver replied.  
  
"Son-in-law isn't the only martial artist in the world with that particular Josenkyo curse." said Cologne.  
  
"True, but how many of those martial artists could have defeated the Crown Prince of the Musk Dynasty in single combat?" Lady Ambrosia asked her.  
  
"Until I see more proof I will not dissolve Shampoo's claim to him." Cologne said resolutely. "He will marry Shampoo."  
  
Lady Ambrosia leaned down to look at her closely. "Are you willing to risk the survival of our world on this, you did not doubt my judgment so fervently when I said that Tendo Akane was The One." Lady Ambrosia smirked.  
  
"How much have you already told her?" Cologne asked looking towards the dojo.  
  
"Nearly everything, except for certain details concerning the legend." said the old Weaver. "What I did tell her is that she is The One."  
  
"So she nothing of the Age of Shadows, nothing of the great apocalypse that is coming to this world, and the role she will play in it." Cologne mused.  
  
"Nor of the role her chosen life-mate will play in that same war, or of the fact that her mate will be a warrior unlike any other, a man among men, yet embodies that soul of a woman." Lady Ambrosia continued for her.  
  
"Shampoo would never agree to let the boy go, she is enraptured by him." Cologne explained.  
  
"If he is truly the fated bond-mate of The One, no man or woman in the universe can separate them." said Lady Ambrosia. "Allow Shampoo to try one last time to win her airen, but I already know what the outcome will be."  
  
"That is already done." Cologne told her. "She had the Comb of Suggestion with her and right now plots to take that which is hers."  
  
Lady Ambrosia did a Spock Maneuver eyebrow move. "Interesting, I almost feel sorry for poor Shampoo." she said. "I can guarantee you her efforts will not succeed."  
  
Cologne humphed and said, "That remains to be seen."  
  
Akane's special education was scheduled to formally begin the next day after school. The next morning the youngest Tendo sister awoke and came downstairs with her iinazuke beside her. At the bottom of the steps the most wonderful, mouthwatering aroma assaulted their noses. The two quickly made for the kitchen and were surprised to see Lady Ambrosia working at the stove as Kasumi watched her over her shoulder.  
  
"That smells wonderful Lady Ambrosia." said Kasumi.  
  
"An old family recipe my dear handed down from generation to generation." the old Amazon Weaver smiled. "I learned it from my mother who was also a Weaver."  
  
"Oh my, I thought the men did all the cooking in the Amazon village." Kasumi mused.  
  
Lady Ambrosia laughed, "We Nyanchiczu are a matriarchal society, but we do not relegate men strictly to domestic chores."  
  
"I see, the women are in charge but men are not forced into doing the duties of a housewife." Kasumi said.  
  
"No, there are a few on the council of elders who would love it if we enslaved our men, but we tend to do things on a more even sharing basis." Lady Ambrosia explained.  
  
"That ain't the impression I got from Cologne." said Ranma.  
  
Lady Ambrosia looked over at him and nodded to him and Akane. "Good morning, I trust you both slept well." she said.  
  
"Are you making our breakfast?" Akane asked.  
  
"Since your father was gracious enough to allow me to stay here during your training I must do something in return for his kindness." the old Weaver replied with a smile.  
  
"She really is a good cook, Akane." said Kasumi.  
  
Nabiki stuck her head into the kitchen and asked, "Say, what smells so good in here?"  
  
"The old woman's cooking us breakfast." Ranma told her.  
  
"Ranma, be nice." Akane scolded him.  
  
"Akane, Kasumi dear, could you set the table for me?" Lady Ambrosia asked them. "I'm almost done here."  
  
Akane shrugged her shoulders, "Ok." She and Kasumi went to the cupboard and pulled out the dishes. Soon the dinner table was set for breakfast. Ranma and Nabiki sat down at the table just as the three women started bringing out the food. The smell make Soun and Genma's mouths water, and Ranma's stomach rumbled. When he saw how much a spread of food had been brought out he gasped.  
  
"Whoa, where did all of this come from?" he asked.  
  
"I collected many of the ingredients from China, Thailand, Korea, and Indonesia just this morning." Lady Ambrosia told him with a smile.  
  
Ranma gaped at her. "How the hell did you do that?"  
  
"This morning one minute the pantry was nearly empty, then I turned around and suddenly it was full." said Kasumi.  
  
"You, you created all this food with you're powers?" asked Akane.  
  
"Oh no my dear, that would have taken too long and would have required a great deal of concentration and meditation." Lady Ambrosia told her. "I simply transferred the items here by folding space, the cost of the items will of course be picked up by the village."  
  
"You don't have to go that far, Ms. Ambrosia." said Tendo Soun.  
  
"The Nyanchiczu are quite wealthy, the expense of supplying food to this one household is a paltry sum." the old woman replied.  
  
"Y-Y-Your people are rich, the Amazon's?" Nabiki asked in surprise.  
  
Lady Ambrosia nodded, "Our society dates back more than ten thousand years, and in that time we have acquired enough wealth in gold, jewels, ancient relics, and long forgotten scrolls of knowledge to pay the national debt of the American's a hundred times over."  
  
"Too bad Ranma's not gonna marry Shampoo." said Nabiki and earned a scornful look from her younger sister. "Lady Ambrosia, you wouldn't happen to have a younger cousin who's single would you?"  
  
"Maybe you should go out with Mousse." said Ranma under his breath and Akane stifled a giggle.  
  
"What was that Saotome?" Nabiki asked flashing him her patented and trademark "Ice Queen" stare, then looked at her younger sister with a slightly less chilly expression.  
  
"Uh nothing, nothing at all." he replied quickly scratching the back of his head.  
  
Nabiki snorted, "I thought so."  
  
"Sorry dear, all of my male cousins are already spoken for, but Shampoo has a cousin about your age who is still single." Lady Ambrosia smiled.  
  
"If your people are so rich why do you live the way you do?" Ranma asked. "When I went to Joketsuzoku and met Shampoo that first time it looked kinda primitive."  
  
"We believe in simple living, we do not let wealth go to our heads like it does to so many in your culture and other lands." explained Lady Ambrosia. "Besides, to live in any higher luxury than we do now would arouse many questions from the Beijing government."  
  
"Oh, so you make the appearance of being poor when you're actually not." said Nabiki. "Pretty clever, throwing around too much money in communist China would certain draw a lot of attention your way."  
  
"When they do send agents our way to investigate us or check up on us from time to time we Weavers make certain that they do not see what they are not supposed to see." Lady Ambrosia said.  
  
"I wondered how the Amazons were able to maintain their way of life, especially after the Cultural Revolution." Akane scratched her chin.  
  
"A army is fairly useless against those who possess the ability to manipulate the Etherium to alter space and time." the old Weaver smiled. "During that dark time in China's history, while the communists were forcing cultural conformity among the populace Joketsuzoku virtually disappeared. Many times the communists came into our area looking for our village after hearing rumors of our existence, but time and again they failed to locate us. Eventually, they stopped searching, but discovered us sometime in the 1960's but all they know of us is that we are a primitive village in a remote portion of the country in an area that has no strategic or natural resource value except for perhaps lumber."  
  
"They gotta know about Josenkyo." Ranma looked at her.  
  
"They know of the place, but not of what it is." the old Weaver told him. "When the government in Beijing created and tested their first biological weapons we knew that if they learned of the true secrets of Josenkyo they might try to turn it into a weapon."  
  
"Yeah, I can see how they could do that." Akane nodded. She envisioned in her mind a battlefield, bombs exploded over the heads of an advancing army then they were drenched by a spray of water from overhead. That same army stopped in its tracks as their gear fell to the ground and all sorts of different animals wriggled their way our of their uniforms. The thought of Josenkyo water being used as a weapon made Ranma shudder.  
  
"Better hurry and eat you three or you'll be late for school." Genma spoke up.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma looked up and checked the wall clock. "Aw man, and we haven't even sparred yet."  
  
"You're off the hook until after school, boy." his father smirked.  
  
Ranma smirked right back at him, "Morning or afternoon I can still kick your tail, old man."  
  
Ranma held Akane's waist as she tried to balance to top of the canal fence. She staggered a little at first but slowly made her way while Ranma helped her balance and Nabiki kept and eye open to anyone on the street who might come along and look up Akane's skirt. When they saw a few school boys approach they leapt down, and heard groans of disappointment from them.  
  
"Next time we practice fence walking when I'm wearing pants." Akane said.  
  
The boys backed off quickly when Ranma shot them a hostile stare. "Yeah, that's a good idea." he agreed.  
  
Suddenly a girl in a Furinken school girl's uniform ran up to them and nearly ran into Akane. "Akane, I-came-warn-you-Kuno!" Yuka tried to say between gasps of air.  
  
"What's this about Kuno?" Nabiki asked.  
  
Yuka turned and pointed down the street. "Look-for-yourself." she said finally catching her breath.  
  
The three looked down the street at the gates to Furinken High School and saw a sight they had not seen in nearly a year. Several throngs of boys wear all sorts of sports and martial arts equipment were standing in rows at the gates. The Hentai Horde was reassembled. "What the hell!" Ranma gasped.  
  
"He got the boys all worked up about you two yesterday, he told them that your engagement to Ranma would be null and void if they could beat you." Yuka explained.  
  
"Why that dirty, no good." Akane clenched her fists and ground her teeth in rage.  
  
"Who the hell does he think he is!?" Ranma snarled and put his arm around Akane's waist.  
  
Yuka's eyes went wide. "Wow, so the rumors are true, you two are like a real couple now." she gasped.  
  
"It ain't like we've been trying to hide it much." Ranma said.  
  
Akane put her hand over Ranma's that was on her waist and smiled, "Yeah, Yuka, don't spread this around but me and Ranma have worked out our differences and we're not fighting the engagement anymore."  
  
"But you made a vow that you hated men." Yuka gaped at her.  
  
"Not all men." Akane said looking at Ranma. She noticed her old friend look over at Ranma with a very brief expression of longing which quickly turned to one of immense disappointment. What is it about Ranma that every single girl that sees him wants him for herself?, she asked herself. When she found her gaze drifting towards his beautiful crystal blue eyes she got her answer.  
  
"Want me to take this one, I gotta stake in this too now." Ranma looked back at her and drifted a bit in her gaze.  
  
She tightened her grip on his hand and said, "For now on we do this together."  
  
Ranma smiled and said, "This is gonna be fun." Yuka and Nabiki watched in fascination and surprise as both Ranma and Akane rushed the Hentai Horde hand-in-hand. They plowed into the first boys head on bring them down with a jump kicks. The two let each other go but stayed close together as they tore through the enraged school boys. Cries of "Break up Ranma and Akane!" echoed down the street amidst the many cries of agony coming from the boys we had been felled by the two iinazuke. Ranma and Akane were like two sides of the Yin and Yang symbol. On one side Ranma's moves were all fluid and graceful as he delivered devastating kicks and punches. On the other Akane's moves were fierce and brutal as she hammered boys with her fists and sent them skyward with high kicks which unintentionally gave a few boys a brief peep show of her panties before they too where slammed to the ground. As soon as the carnage began it was over, and when the dust cleared everyone in the school yard and up on the balcony gasped in surprise when they watched Ranma and Akane approach one another, kiss, then headed towards the school hand in hand. Immediately as they passed the gates Ranma's danger sense when off. He ducked his head narrowly avoiding the blow from a bokken that would have taken off his head.  
  
"Attacking me from behind isn't very honorable, Kuno." Ranma said as he stood up.  
  
"Only when my intended target is himself an honorable man, Saotome." Kuno smirked.  
  
Akane stalked up to the wannabe Samurai and snarled, "What is the deal with sending all those boys at me again!?  
  
"Watching you and the vile Saotome yesterday in school was horrible torture beyond any mortal pain this humble warrior could ever bear." Kuno sighed dramatically and held up a red rose to his face. "I knew that the hold this vile creature has upon you has grown stronger, therefore I know endeavor to break this bond now and forever."  
  
Ranma groaned and rubbed his hand down his face, "Man is this getting old or what?"  
  
"Tell me about it." Akane whispered to him.  
  
Kuno quickly tossed his rose at Akane, who caught it with practiced ease, then tossed an envelope at Ranma. "Not this again." Ranma groaned as he caught the letter. Kuno had challenged the engagement before and Ranma had defended himself, but back then he fought to protect his reputation as a better fighter than Kuno. Now the battle was more personal, he really wanted to be with Akane this time.  
  
"Saotome Ranma, I challenge you, meet me at the selected place and time." Kuno said puffing up his chest. "This issue shall finally be put to rest and I Kuno Tatawaki shall finally free the beauteous Tendo Akane from your vile grasp."  
  
Ranma tore open the letter and read it. "Heh, the track field behind the gym after school." he said.  
  
"I will understand if you are too frightened to show, but in the event that you do not you loose by default and Tendo Akane will become my iinazuke." Kuno said proudly.  
  
"Are you deranged!" Akane snapped at him. "I'd never marry you!"  
  
Ranma patted her shoulder to calm her down and said, "I'll agree to this fight on one condition Kuno, that if I win you drop your claim to Akane and the Pig Tailed Girl."  
  
Kuno thrust his bokken into Ranma's face, but the Saotome youth didn't flinch one bit. "Naive!" he yelled. "You lay claim to the beauteous Akane and now you lay claim also to my pig tailed goddess as well!"  
  
"Neither of them want you, you annoy the hell out of both of them and your so caught up in your samurai fantasy world that you don't even realize it." Ranma looked at him with a hard stare. Akane and Nabiki both looked at Ranma in surprise. "You make up fantasies that the only way I beat you is through dark magic or something like that, and its pretty pathetic if you ask me." he went on.  
  
Kuno did not reply, he just stared at Ranma for a moment with immense contempt on his face. They stood there looking at each other for several minutes when suddenly Kuno's face curled up into the most vicious snarl Ranma had ever seen. Tatawaki lifted his bokken and cried, "DAMN THE CHALLENGE, THE SWORD OF KUNO WILL TASTE YOUR BLOOD NOW!"  
  
Akane ducked out of the way as Kuno attacked Ranma in a berserker rage, he wildly swung his sword about attempting to hit Ranma. The Saotome youth dodged the blows that narrowly struck him several times. The wooden sword cleaved through a tree and smashed part of the school wall as the two combatants chased one another around the school yard. Ranma did not just dodge during this whole exchanged, but he was unable to get close enough past Kuno's wild sword blows to land a punch of kick.  
  
Ranma dodged a series of furious sword blows that came too close to connecting for comfort. He leapt high over Kuno's head and reach out to grab his bokken away from him. Ranma's hand encircled the wooden blade and he felt it give way and pulled away with him. When he alighted to the ground behind Kuno he realized with a chill down his spine that what he was holding in his hand was a wooden sword scabbard made to look like a bokken. Kuno whirled around, the sound of bare steel sung in the air as a bright metal blade narrowly missed Ranma's neck.  
  
"Kami-sama, Kuno baby has a real sword!" Nabiki gasped.  
  
"Ranma look out!" Akane cried.  
  
Ranma saw it before either Tendo girls did, and he put some distance between himself and Kuno while staying a safe distance from the girls or any other students. This whole fight had turned from an annoyance to downright dangerous. Kuno was fighting with a vicious ferocity unlike anything Ranma had ever seen from the Kendoist, and he was actually demonstrating some skill too. Something just didn't add up here. During the whole battle nobody noticed the bejeweled wire comb stuck in Kuno's hair.  
  
"Stupid bokken boy, Shampoo say defeat Ranma in duel, not kill Ranma." Shampoo growled through clenched teeth as she watched the fight from her hiding place in the school yard. She winced as Kuno's sword came within a hair's breath of slicing Ranma's torso like a side of beef. It was clear to the voluptuous Amazon that her strategy for getting Ranma and Akane apart had some "flaws". Clearly relying on the comb to get her command through Kuno's thick skull was a mistake. Magic can only do so much when the people you're controlling are dumber than a stick.  
  
Akane stood there with her older sister watching the whole fight, if this is what you could call it, and it was becoming clear that Ranma as in trouble. Kuno was fighting like Ryoga in a rage, but he was doing so with inhuman skill. Ranma hadn't delivered a single punch or kick, and it wasn't because he didn't try. Finally, she gasped in horror was the tip of Kuno's sword slashed a cut across Ranma's chest. Akane watched her iinazuke, the man she loved with all her heart, fall backwards holding his chest and grimacing in pain and rage. Kuno brought up his sword for a downward stroke that would certainly kill, and his face was curled up in a mask of insane glee. Time for Tendo Akane seemed to slow down, she watched as Kuno raised his weapon in slow motion and prepare to deliver a lethal blow to Ranma who was on the ground. Fear and hatred welled up inside of Akane as she looked at Kuno, she could feel the rage within her like a physical force traveling down her spin to her waist, then it went from there to her legs and traveled swiftly to her feet. Nabiki and the other students gasped as they looked at Akane, her hair and skirt were fluttering about as if in a fierce breeze, but the wind in the school yard was very calm. Kuno's sword reached its apex and the Kendoist swung downward issuing a cry of triumph.  
  
"NNNOOOOO!!!!!" Akane cried. Her skirt flew up around her showing her bare legs and white panties to the entire student body, suddenly an invisible force traveled through the ground throwing up dirt and sod in a straight line headed directly for Kuno. When it reached the insane Kendoist the ground exploded in a geyser of dirt, rock and sod. Kuno was thrown into the air nearly forty feet and he lost his grip on his sword. The deadly weapon went flying and embedded itself into one of the trees that ringed the school yard. Seconds later Kuno himself slammed into the ground unconscious. The fierce unfelt winds holding Akane's skirt aloft suddenly subsided. Akane put her hand to her head and staggered a couple of steps and fell to the ground  
  
"AKANE!" Ranma cried as he raced towards her. He reached her before anyone else could including Nabiki who had been right beside her. Ranma lifted her up into his arms and brushed her hair out of her face. "Akane." he said softly as he held her close. Slowly her eyes fluttered open, she looked up at Ranma.  
  
"W-What happened?" she asked him.  
  
He shook his head, "I dunno but I'm getting you to the Doc." Before Akane or anyone could say a word Ranma was up and running at full speed. He leapt and cleared the school ground wall then took to the rooftops making a beeline straight for Dr. Tofu's office. After he was out of sight and most of the students watching the fight went into the school building Shampoo came out of her hiding place. She walked over to Kuno's unconscious body and retrieved the Comb of Suggestion.  
  
"Stupid bokken boy!" she spat. "Shampoo say defeat Ranma in fight so Shampoo can come to rescue and impress Airen." After glancing around again to make sure we wasn't seen Shampoo bounded over the school grounds wall and vanished.  
  
Unknown to Shampoo someone was watching her. Nabiki slipped back away from the edge of the upper floor balcony and scratched her chin. What he heck was that all about, what did Shampoo take off of Kuno's head?, she wondered. She had seen Shampoo slip out of a hiding place soon after Ranma and Akane left and her curious side too over. Of course, if she had stayed much longer than she did Shampoo would certainly have sensed her presence. After all, Shampoo was an accomplished martial artist with a keen sense of awareness. The Tendo Clan Mercenary and reputed "Ice Queen" of Nerima decided to talk to Ranma and Akane about this later. She checked her watched and groaned, she was two minutes late for class and would certainly be made to stand out in the hall.  
  
Saotome Ranma made record time getting to Dr. Tofu's clinic. Clearly if he'd been in an Olympic event Ranma would be wearing a gold medal right now. As it was he was beside himself with worry while he waited in the waiting room. Back in one of the examination rooms Akane blushed as she pulled up her blouse revealing her back so the doctor could check her with his stethoscope.  
  
"Other than a mild headache and a bout of exhaustion I don't really see anything else wrong with you Akane." he said letting Akane put her blouse back down.  
  
"I feel so tired." she told him.  
  
He scratched the back of his head. "And you say Kuno Tatawaki used a real katana sword against Ranma, and when you thought Ranma was in trouble-"  
  
"I was scared and angry, I just wanted to lash out at Kuno, I wished that I could." she interrupted.  
  
"Hmmm." he wondered. "Have you ever experienced anything like this before?"  
  
Akane shook her head, "No, never."  
  
"I want to say it was a chi technique, that would explain the fatigue." he said.  
  
"But I don't know any chi techniques." Akane told him.  
  
"Sometimes they come to you by accident during times of extreme tension or stress, that was how the Shi Shi Hokadon was discovered." Dr. Tofu informed her. "It could be you used one when you though Ranma was in real danger."  
  
"Doctor, there's this lady who came to our dojo yesterday from the Nyanchiczu." Akane said as she turned around and sat with her knees up to her chin. "She said I had some kind of power awakening inside of me and what she said that power was is pretty far fetched."  
  
Dr. Tofu did a classic Spock Maneuver. "Tell me what she told you." he said. Akane went through an abbreviated version of what Lady Ambrosia had told her about the power she had within her. Dr. Tofu's expression turned very white suddenly when she was finished.  
  
"In my many travels around the world I have visited the Nyanchiczu and I am well aware of what the Weavers can do." he admitted. "If you have this power, it is very potent and very dangerous if not properly controlled."  
  
"So what I did at the school was the power." Akane guessed.  
  
Dr. Tofu shook his head and rubbed his chin, "I can't really tell you if it was or not I know only a little about the Weavers, maybe you need to take this up with your sensei."  
  
Akane sighed, "I guess I have no choice but to accept her teaching, I've got to learn to control this power or the next time I get mad-"  
  
Dr. Tofu interrupted her, "Try not to ponder on it, the gift you have is very special, not many have it as I am told."  
  
That made Akane feel a little better and she smiled. Dr. Tofu reached into his white physician's coat and took out a small bottle. After he took out two small tablet he handed them to Akane. "These should take care of the headache, ordinary Aspirin." he told her.  
  
"Thanks." she said taking the tablets. The doctor went to the sink near the door and drew Akane a cup of water.  
  
He offered her the cup and said, "Take it with this and then go home and take it easy for the rest of the day."  
  
Akane nodded and took the medicine. She and the doctor returned to waiting room to a very nervous Ranma. "Is she alright Doc?" he asked quickly.  
  
"Other than a headache and some fatigue she'll be alright." Dr. Tofu smiled reassuringly. "Take her home, she needs to rest."  
  
"Thanks, Doc, I owe you one." Ranma smiled back, picked Akane up into his arms and hurried out the door to fast that it make made Ono's physician's coat flutter violently. Before long Akane found herself in her backyard after a journey that to her was only just a blur of images and the rush of wind. Kasumi was outside string up the wash and gave a yelp of surprise as Ranma and her sister landed in the backyard.  
  
"Oh my, what happen, why aren't you two in school?" she asked, her voice sounding very concerned.  
  
"Kuno happened, Doc says Akane needs to take it easy the rest of the day." Ranma told her.  
  
"Kuno Tatawaki." Soun said questioningly from the house where he and Genma were playing Go.  
  
"What happened?" Genma asked.  
  
"He went at Ranma with a real katana." Akane said tiredly.  
  
Soun took at look at his daughter and was immediately concerned. To put it bluntly she looked like death warmed over, her face looked like she hadn't slept in days. He got up quickly, surprisingly without shedding any tears, and went to his little girl.  
  
"What happened to you Akane?" he asked her. "You look terrible, did that boy do this to you?"  
  
Ranma shook his head, "No, she did something, I can't explain it, but she took Kuno out without even touching him."  
  
Soun and Genma looked at him in surprise. "You mean you let a girl do your fighting for you!" Genma snarled and pounced on his son. After a brief struggle on the ground Ranma went sailing across the yard and landed in the koi pond. Female Ranma came up sputtering and cursing worse than a sailor.  
  
"Mr. Saotome, it wasn't like that at all!" Akane shouted at the large man.  
  
"You jerk, I was fighting Kuno, and when he had me on the rope Akane did something and Kuno was suddenly on the ground!" growled Ranma as she got up close, face to face with her father.  
  
"Is Lady Ambrosia here, I think this has something to do with what she told me and Ranma yesterday?" Akane asked her father.  
  
"After you left for school she left and said she was going to Nekohauten until later." Kasumi answered for him. Akane suddenly felt a wave of fatigue go through her and she started to fall. Ranma was at her side in an instant to catch her. The youngest Tendo sister blushed a little as she felt her shoulder resting against one of Ranma's generously proportioned breasts.  
  
"Let me get you to bed, you can talk to her later." Ranma said softly.  
  
Akane nodded weakly, "Ok." She didn't protest as Ranma picked her up, getting her dress wet since Ranma was still soaked from her dunk in the koi pond, and was carried like a delicate package into the house. She blushed furiously as Ranma helped her slip out of her school uniform and into one of her pajamas. Ranma tried not to stare at Akane too much, and blushed just as intensely. Damn, she is pretty, why didn't I ever notice it before?, she asked herself.  
  
"Thank you." Akane smiled at her iinazuke as Ranma tucked her into bed.  
  
"Get some rest." Ranma whispered then leaned down to kiss Akane's cheek, but Akane tilted her head just the right way and their lips met. Ranma was shocked at first, but remembered what happened yesterday morning, how Akane accepted her as a boy or girl. When their kiss ended Ranma smiled and said, "Now, go to sleep, and rest."  
  
"You know, I used to hate it when you got this protective with me." Akane admitted. "Show how much I've changed in a few days, eh."  
  
Ranma kneeled down next to the bed, not wanting to sit on it and soak the sheets. "I know, we both kinda changed a lot in only like two days." she agreed. "Its kinda weird, I sorta thought we'd be like the same as we'd been but only a little different, getting along better but still arguing a little, you know changing just a little over time but not all at once like this." In response Akane reached out with her hand and grasped Ranma's hand that was resting on the bed.  
  
"I wonder, I wonder if it has something to do with what Lady Ambrosia told us last night." Akane pondered.  
  
"That mumbo jumbo about you changing space and time or whatever." Ranma laughed. "You really believed all that."  
  
Akane shook her head, "No, not until today."  
  
"Huh?" Ranma looked at her in surprise.  
  
"Ranma, I attacked Kuno using some kind of power I can't even begin to understand." she said. "I'm starting to think that maybe there is something to what she said last night."  
  
Ranma snorted, "Well I ain't gonna trust her until I'm sure she's on the up and up and she ain't involved with the Old Ghoul."  
  
"Ranma, you, a voice of reason." Akane said in a mock sarcastic tone with a smirk on her face.  
  
Ranma laughed, "What's happen to us, just the other day we're at each other's throats, and now its taking everything we got to keep from screwing each other's brains out." Akane busted out laughing, but the though of being intimate with Ranma at that moment was suddenly very appealing. Her body shivered with expectation.  
  
"Ranma, one of the reasons why I was so hard on you all this time was because, because, I was attracted to you." Akane admitted.  
  
"Y-Y-You were." Ranma looked at her, blushing.  
  
Akane smiled at her, "Remember, I got a pretty good look at you that day in the bathroom." She blushed as she remembered that day she walked in on Ranma in the bathroom and saw him in his true male form for the first time. The first thought in her mind when she saw him was, "My Kami-sama, that guy is hung like a freaking horse!"  
  
Ranma's lovely female face smile softly and said, "I though you were really pretty." She thought back to that day when she was in the bathroom. Ranma intended to go out in her male form, she thought everyone would find out eventually about her curse, so why not. That was when Akane showed up and saw her in her true form as a boy for the first time. Ranma's first thought when that happened was, "Wow, she's got a body on her!"  
  
"I can't wait until after our wedding." Akane said thinking out loud.  
  
"Eh, uh-" Ranma stammered.  
  
"Why do you think I got those birth control pills from Dr. Tofu yesterday?" Akane smiled at her. Ranma's beautiful blue eyes suddenly grew very wide. She recovered quickly and just sighed.  
  
"That's something I can't really understand." said Ranma. "Why am I like a magnet for women, is it the curse or what?"  
  
Akane shrugged her shoulders, "I think it's been happening before you got your curse, remember Ukyo."  
  
"Yeah, but I never knew she was so hung up on me like that until just recently." Ranma replied, then threw up her hands. "Hell, I didn't know she was a girl until recently." Akane giggled at that.  
  
"Then there's Kodachi, she fell in love with you on sight." Akane said counting out on her fingers.  
  
Ranma rested her forehead on the bed. "Ugh!" she groaned. "Please don't remind me of that."  
  
"Shampoo is bound by her laws, but I can tell when I look in her eyes that she really is totally smitten by you." Akane added.  
  
Ranma looked at her with a hopeless expression and said, "Ok, then please explain Kuno."  
  
"Why do any of the guys you've met in your female form suddenly go nuts over you, like that guy from the Gold Pair, or the boy from the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony dojo?" asked Akane. "Its not your curse, its just you." She reached out and touched Ranma's face. "They fell for you, some people are like that, they just attract admirers." she continued.  
  
"Yeah, but its gets to be a real bother sometimes." Ranma groaned but smiled anyway.  
  
"I'm the same way, look at all the boys that have gone after me." Akane pointed out. "Not counting Kuno."  
  
Ranma had to nod in agreement there. "I see your point." she said. There had been several times she had to fight off somebody going after Akane. Ryoga had been one of them, up until recently that is. It would take a miracle for him to have any chance to be with her after what happened the other day. Maybe, just maybe, he and Akane would be friends after all of this, but they could never be a couple. There would always be that knowledge that he deceived her like he did, hiding his curse from her, and using it to sneak into her bed as her pet pig P-Chan. Of all of Akane's "suitors" Ryoga was the worst one Ranma had to face. Kuno didn't even count, and wasn't really a problem until today.  
  
"I wonder what happened to Kuno, he was never that good before." Ranma said while wondering.  
  
"I-I know, you couldn't get anywhere near him." Akane pursed her lips in thought. "You've always been able to beat him."  
  
Ranma scratched her chin. "Something smells rotten in Denmark."  
  
"Maybe it was just a fluke." Akane shrugged.  
  
Ranma shook her head. "No, he was too good today for it to be just blind luck." She looked up at Akane and asker her, "Remember when Kuno went to that watermelon island to train, and he got beaned on the head?"  
  
"Yeah, I remember, he couldn't remember who he was but he was also pretty good with the sword too." Akane replied remembering the incident.  
  
"This was just like it, but he remembers who he was this time." said Ranma.  
  
Akane shivered, the prospect of a highly skilled Kuno Tatawaki on the loose with his Akane Obsession in full gear was frightening. "Oh no." she whispered. Ranma squeezed her hand reassuringly.  
  
"Don't worry, there ain't a martial artist I haven't been able to beat." she said to Akane reassuringly. "If I can beat that Musk guy I can beat Kuno."  
  
"Be careful, ok?" Akane looked at her, the fear in her eyes was very evident.  
  
Ranma pointed to herself. "Hey, its me, don't worry." When she said that the sound of thunder suddenly rumbled in the sky as if the Kami were mocking her statement.  
  
**********  
  
Coming up in Chapter Two  
  
Shampoo's little plan involving Kuno didn't quite work out as well as she would have liked. After the fight at school Kuno seems to have completely dropped out of sight, and the Hentai Horde is once again absent. Akane has begun her formal training under Lady Ambrosia, and life at the Tendo Dojo seems to have finally calmed down a little. The wedding is two days away, what could possibly happen in two days? Well, this is Nerima we are talking about here, Murphy's home town. Stay tuned.  
  
**********  
  
Notes: The concept for the Etherium was conceived in 1992, but at the time was called the Ethereal Matrix. After the movie "The Matrix" came out I decided it sounded too similar and looked for a name to replace it. The Etherium was a good choice. The character Lady Ambrosia was my own idea but was also slightly modeled after the good sorceress in the movie "Willow". The Weaver aspect came from a little known but excellent Lucus Arts game "Loom". In "Loom" the Weavers could fashion things out of the threat of the universe and even alter reality. Part of the concept of the Etherium came from that game but I never used the Weaver aspect in the outline for Orrin Quintarin's original story. I thought it would interesting to use the idea in this story, but alter it a bit so that the Gift wasn't dependent on the use of the mystical Loom the Weavers used in the game. The Comb of Suggestion was my own idea, but I could easily imagine Takahashi-san using it in the original manga has she thought it up before I did. :-) 


	3. Part 2

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty Productions, and Viz Communications.  
  
**********  
  
UPON ETHEREAL WINGS By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
**********  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Life certainly got strange around the Tendo Dojo, but then the Tendo Dojo was always a magnet for strangeness especially with a sex- changing martial artist named Saotome Ranma living there. There was a silver lining though. The aftermath of the titanic battle with Prince Herb served as the catalyst for change in the relationship between Ranma and Akane. For the first time they were a real couple. Things between them have changed, but that happens when you almost loose the person you love. Akane knew for a long time she loved Ranma but her own foolish pride would not allow her to accept it. It was when he came close to not returning from that horrific battle, one that ended with a mountain being destroyed, that she finally let go of her anger and allowed her true feelings to surface. Change is hard though and Akane lapsed back into her old self from time to time, but would look into Ranma's blue eyes and would be reminded that she almost lost him. That was all the motivation she needed to endeavor to be a better person, a better iinazuke, and someday be a better wife. Life did deliver a few surprises along the way though, and it came in the form of the Amazon Weaver named Lady Ambrosia.  
  
Tendo Akane walked slowly through a field of yellow flowers, the field ran off into the distance with rolling hills that resembled the setting for the old gaijin movie "The Sound of Music". A warm breeze made the grass dance and carried with it the perfume of the flowers, the sky was clear with a small smattering of white, fluffy clouds. This place was so tranquil, so peaceful. Akane sat down, laid back, and stared up into the sky at the clouds as they slowly moved across her view. Never in her life did Akane feel such a sense of total peace and tranquility, it literally flowed through her very being.  
  
"Beautiful isn't it?" came a voice that suddenly startled the youngest Tendo sister.  
  
Akane bolted upright in surprise then sighed with some relief when she recognized the face of her Amazon sensei. Lady Ambrosia knelt down next to her and looked up at the clouds above them.  
  
"What is this place?" Akane asked her. Though she felt no malice in this place, no sense of danger, there was still an unreality about it that made her suddenly uneasy.  
  
Ambrosia smiled at her and sat down next to her apprentice. "This place has many names, some call it the 'spirit world', others 'limbo', but it truth it is what is sometimes called the 'astral plane'." she replied.  
  
"How did I get here?" Akane asked. She picked up one of the flowers and sniffed it. The fragrance was wonderful, and the flower certain did feel and smell quite real.  
  
"The astral plane is the realm of higher consciousness, the physical cannot exist here, normally." Ambrosia explained. "You are actually sleeping in your bedroom right now in your father's house, but your soul has traveled to this place so that we may talk."  
  
"You no doubt have many questions for me, mostly concerning what happened this morning." she went on with a knowing smile.  
  
"Y-Y-You know about that?" Akane looked at in surprise. It suddenly made her wonder if the powerful Amazon might be watching over her every move.  
  
"Know about it, my dear I felt it." Ambrosia laughed. "That poor Kuno boy is going to be laid up for several weeks after what you did to him."  
  
Akane looked away in embarrassment. "I wasn't trying to kill him, but he was attacking Ranma and-"  
  
"You lashed out with your emotions." the Amazon finished for her. "They can be very powerful when coupled with one who has the Gift. That boy is lucky to be alive."  
  
Akane looked down at her feet. "I hope I didn't disappoint you, sensai."  
  
"Nonsense child, you made me proud." Ambrosia said to Akane's surprise. "You were defending your mate, you acted like a true Amazon."  
  
That last comment made Akane blink. "Ranma does not true me." Ambrosia added with a small smile.  
  
"He thinks you're part of some scheme to get him and Shampoo together." Akane replied.  
  
"What do you think?" the Amazon asked her.  
  
Akane looked away putting her hand to her cheek in thought. "I don't know, maybe he's just being paranoid."  
  
The old woman put a gentle hand on Akane's shoulder. "I do not blame him, I can only imagine the trouble Cologne must have caused that young man in the past." she said.  
  
Akane laughed, "You have no idea."  
  
Lady Ambrosia laughed in reply, "Oh, trust me child, I know old Cologne better than she knows herself. I know what she is capable of."  
  
The old Amazon walked around in front of Akane and stopped when she was finally standing face to face with her. "Today we will begin your first lesson in what it is to be a Weaver" she said. "I want you to exercise your new abilities as you learn them so they become easier for you to perform."  
  
"Could that be dangerous?" Akane asked a little concerned.  
  
"Everything a Weaver does has the potential to be dangerous as long as you don't let the power get away from you and roar out of control." Lady Ambrosia reassured her.  
  
Akane nodded. "Ok, so what am I going to learn first?" she asked.  
  
"Advanced Perception." Ambrosia told her. "With it you will be able to see everything around you, even in total darkness."  
  
Akane started in surprise. "I'll be able to see in the dark?"  
  
"Not like with night vision or infrared, but I will teach you how to see the other ranges of the spectrum in time." the Amazon explained. "This is very different, you will learn to perceive the presence of reality around you, the basic structures of the building-blocks of space and time."  
  
Ambrosia nodded towards her. "First, there is no time on the astral plain, so you must be awake for us to accomplish this."  
  
Suddenly the lush hills and mountains fell away and Akane found herself in her bedroom. A glance at her clock told her she'd been asleep for nearly five hours. Slowly she sat up and instantly detected a presence in her room.  
  
"This place will do nicely for what we need to do." came Lady Ambrosia's voice.  
  
"You were here in my room all this time?" Akane asked her.  
  
Ambrosia smiled. "You do not have to be asleep to venture into the astral plain, dear."  
  
"Uh." Akane stood up and faced her sensai. "What do I do first?"  
  
The old Amazon woman put her hands on Akane's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "First, close your eyes." Akane did as she was instructed and waited. "Now, stretch out with your thoughts, feeling the room around you." Akane concentrated and tried pushing all other thoughts out of her head. After several minutes she let go of the breath she was holding and her shoulders dropped.  
  
"I can't." she said disappointedly.  
  
"You are trying too hard, try again but this time let your thoughts flow outward slowly." Lady Ambrosia told her. "Imagine your thoughts are like a stream, slowly flowing outward then widening into a river and encompassing everything in its path, then opening out into the ocean and covering all."  
  
Akane closed her eyes again, this time she relaxed and let her thoughts stream outwards slowly. For a long moment she wasn't sure if anything was happening, her mind was totally blank and empty of random images generated by her thoughts. Slowly shapes began to appear in the darkness, it started slowly at first. Akane widened the flow of her thoughts but did not increase the speed of the flow and the shapes began to become more defined. It took only a few seconds before she recognized the outline of her bed, the shape of her bedroom door and the door frame, the square, oval, and rectangular shapes of the pictures on the walls. She had a full three-hundred sixty degree view of her whole room, and she could "perceive" all of it at one time. What she was not able to see were the colors of her sheets, the design of her wallpaper or the pictures themselves other the shapes of their frames.  
  
"I can see it, but I can't see any detail like colors or pictures." Akane said still focusing on what she was doing.  
  
"You will get that later on today in our lesson, but for now I want you to practice on feeling the world around you for now." Ambrosia told her.  
  
Akane noticed that she could feeling Lady Ambrosia in front of her. The curved shape of the Amazon's body was before her, she was the only thing in the room that was different from the rest of the objects in the room. There was a glow that seemed to come from within the center of the woman that flowed outward like a bright light, but what Akane was experiencing could not really be called actual "light" except it was represented in her mind's eye as a form of perceived light.  
  
"There is some kind of glow coming from inside of you." said Akane.  
  
"Your advanced perception allows you to see my life essence." Ambrosia explained to her. "You will see it whenever you are 'perceiving' and living things are around you. Not just people and animals, but also plants."  
  
"Now, I want you to walk down to the sitting room and sit down at the table there." Ambrosia went on as she went to the bedroom door. "All while using your advanced perception to find your way, and no peeking." As she said that last part the Amazon waved her finger at Akane eliciting a smirk from her.  
  
"Ok, I'll try." she said.  
  
Keeping her eyes closed and her grasp upon the perception of the world around her Akane tentatively walked towards her bedroom door. She could not see herself in this state of mind, but somehow she 'knew' exactly where her arms, legs, and hands were. She reached out and grasped her door knob and stepped out into the hallway. She made her way down the hall and to her top of the steps. Her perception registered the many steps that lead down to the first floor, and like with her hand she 'knew' where to step with her foot. The sitting room was situation in a narrow portion of the house that attached the main house to the dojo and had two sets of Shoji doors on either side that could be opened during the day to let the breeze through. She could even feel the koi pond and the surface of the water. Small pinpoints of "light" in the water indicated the presence of the carp beneath the surface. Slowly she approached the table, to one side she sensed the forms of two people. One was tall and slender, the other short and very wide. Those had to be her father and Genma, she reasoned, and the square shaped object between them was the Go board they always played all the time. When she reached the table Akane sat down, she 'knew' when to stop moving so she did not run into the table.  
  
"Excellent." Lady Ambrosia said with pride in her voice.  
  
"I did it!" Akane cheered. "I could actually feel everything around me!"  
  
"You have taken your first tentative steps toward becoming a true Weaver, Tendo Akane." Lady Ambrosia said with a grandmotherly smile.  
  
Akane smiled. "I can see where that power would really come in handy, but I still can't see detail like colors."  
  
"Like solid shapes, colors and textures are a part of reality also, and with your advanced perception you will be able to see these things as well." Ambrosia told her. "It is well documented that many of the great Weavers of the past were totally blind, yet they could see as well as you or I, perhaps even far better."  
  
Akane looked at her in surprise. "Way better, especially if they can see the kind of detail I was seeing." she said. "I could even see the cob webs under my bed."  
  
Lady Ambrosia smiled and nodded. "Seeing things on the surface is not all you can see, you will be able to see what lies below the surface of things as well."  
  
"Like ground sonar?" Akane asked her.  
  
Ambrosia gave a small laugh. "Sort of like that, yes."  
  
"What you sensed today would have overwhelmed an ordinary human mind." Lady Ambrosia went to tell her. "Only the mind of one who has the Gift can process the enormous amount of information flowing in from your senses."  
  
"I never knew I had this kind of power inside of me." Akane said in astonishment and looked down at herself.  
  
"This is only the beginning." Lady Ambrosia told her.  
  
"Hey, what's up." said Ranma as he came into the room from outside. He spotted the old Amazon woman and frowned suddenly.  
  
"Ranma, it was incredible!" Akane said excitedly. "I was able to see with my eyes closed, well its not like seeing, its more like feeling my way around, but I could discern shapes enough to make it from my room down here without falling down the stairs!"  
  
"What are you talking about?" he asked her and he looked at Ambrosia.  
  
"Akane is learning one of the basic techniques of the Weavers." she said. "The ability to 'perceive' the universe around her even in total darkness."  
  
"I can't see colors though, only shapes and textures." Akane added.  
  
"This is the easiest ability to learn, now we will practice advanced perception viewing colors and detecting light sources." Lady Ambrosia told her.  
  
"S-S-She can do that?" a surprised Ranma asked. "With her eyes closed?"  
  
The three relocated to the dojo. Lady Ambrosia gathered several pictures from Akane's room and around the house and leaned them up against the wall. She had Akane sit down in front of them, and asked Ranma to blind fold her to make sure she did not cheat. The blind fold was not really to make sure Akane was really using her powers, it was more for Ranma's benefit so he would believe that Akane's powers were real.  
  
"Like before, feel the world around you." Ambrosia instructed Akane.  
  
Akane 'perceived' a view of the dojo and the pictures against the wall, the effect was instantaneous now instead of slow like the first time she called upon this power. "Alright, I go it." she said.  
  
"Now, imagine in your mind's eye that you are turning a dial changing the frequency of your thoughts." the Amazon told her. "Soon you should start to 'see' something."  
  
Akane did, she imagine a frequency dial and turned it. Slowly, the gray-shaded outlines of the 'perceived' world around her began to take on vibrant colors. She could 'see' the browns of the wood in the floor, the bright yellow color in her Mother's hair in her picture, the red on Ranma's shirt.  
  
"I SEE IT!" Akane exclaimed with joy.  
  
Ambrosia smiled. "Truly you must be The One to get this on the first try."  
  
* * *  
  
Shampoo was very worried. In all of her time in Nerima she had never ever seen Tendo Akane use a chi technique. Worst yet, she recognized the attack that Akane had used on the bokken wielding baka. It was a Weaver technique known as "The Fist of the Earth". Her cousin was a Weaver so Shampoo had some knowledge of what they could do. There was no way that Akane could be using such powers though, she reasoned but was unable to find a suitable alternative to how Akane did what she did.  
  
Later upon returning to the Nekohauten she was shocked to learn that the great Lady Ambrosia was in town. The head of the Weavers of Joketsuzoku was here in Nerima! Her great grandmother would give her no more details than to say that the ancient, yet beautiful, woman was in Nerima on special Amazon business and was not to be disturbed. She did encourage Shampoo to try again using the Comb of Suggestion. Shampoo then formulated a new plan to get to Ranma. Using a proxy like Kuno Tatawaki had been a major mistake. She had to get at the boy himself, but actually getting the comb into his hair without him being suspicious was going to be difficult. Then, there was Akane who might interfere. Another wild card was Mousse who managed to escape from his cage the other night and has not been seen since.  
  
The 'plan' should work, she was an Amazon and they never failed in their missions. Most of the time. The beautiful Nyanchiczu warrior and future Matriarch sat outside the Tendo dojo waiting for phase one of her plan to take effect.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ryoga has challenged you to a duel of honor?"  
  
Ranma handed the scroll, which he found on the front step of the Tendo home about a hour ago, over to Akane. She read through it and slammed it down on the top of the sitting room table.  
  
"Who the hell does he think he is!?" she growled angrily.  
  
"What did it say?" Nabiki asked her.  
  
"Ryoga says he wants to challenge Ranma to a duel, if he wins I have to agree to become his iinazuke, but if Ranma wins he'll leave and never come around here again." Akane told her in a huff.  
  
"Well then, all Ranma has to do is beat Ryoga." Nabiki smiled. "Its not like he hasn't beaten him before."  
  
"Its the principle of the thing Nabiki!" Akane snarled angrily. "The baka is trying to force 'me' to side with him over Ranma!"  
  
"I cannot back down from a challenge." Ranma said calmly. "It is a violation of the Warrior's Code to do so."  
  
Akane looked at him with worry but smiled all the same. "You don't have to do this, what that baka says has no influence in this house."  
  
"Still, he challenged me and I gotta fight him." Ranma replied.  
  
"It also says you have to meet him alone, nobody can come with you." Nabiki said as she read the scroll.  
  
"The fight's in one hour, which probably means three or four days." Ranma smirked. "Still the code requires me to be there, whether the directionally challenged baka shows up or not." He got up, leaned over to kiss Akane on the lips and headed for the door. She sighed as he leapt and cleared the wall vanishing from sight.  
  
"Hmmm." Nabiki said as she examined the scroll some more.  
  
"What is it?" Akane asked her.  
  
"Since when did Ryoga have such good handwriting." she said. "And this paper is expensive parchment, the kind used on special documents and religious scrolls." She shrugged and laid the paper down on the table. "Eh, maybe he's just been practicing and could have gotten the paper from anywhere."  
  
"Yeah, maybe that's it." Akane replied.  
  
"There is a way that you can tell where it came from and who wrote upon it." Lady Ambrosia said as she poked her head out of the kitchen. She was holding a pan and wearing one of Kasumi's aprons.  
  
"How?" Akane asked her.  
  
"A Weaver can sense the life essence impressions left behind by the people who previously held an object." she said.  
  
"You mean like with psychometry?" Nabiki asked her.  
  
The Amazon shook her head. "Not quite, but close."  
  
Akane picked up the paper then looked at the old woman. "Concentrate like you do when you are 'perceiving" but this time focus only on the paper and feel for the subtle impressions that people have left behind." the old woman said. Akane closed her eyes and did so. The room sprang up in full three dimensions in her mind with all of its vibrant colors intact, then she focused on the paper. She could 'feel' layers of impressions left behind by several souls that touched the paper and she began to peel through them. First she sensed her own, then Nabiki, and Ranma. She nearly gasped when the next person after them was not Ryoga but the beautiful great granddaughter of Cologne; Shampoo. Akane focused harder on Shampoo's impression and a scene appeared in her mind. She watched as Shampoo opened the scroll, took out a calligraphy pen, and began to write.  
  
"This doesn't belong to Ryoga, it was written by Shampoo!" she exclaimed.  
  
"But, why would Shampoo write a challenge letter to Ranma saying it was Ryoga?" Nabiki asked her.  
  
Akane concentrated some more and the image of Shampoo appeared again. She was writing on the scroll in her bedroom at the Nekohauten. Akane could see the top of the little writing desk the girl had. Her 'sight' focused on an object that seemed to be emitting an odd glow. It was a comb, an ornate wire comb. The glow from the object did not feel natural to Akane's senses.  
  
"I can see something that looks like a comb, its got an unnatural glow around it." Akane said as she continued to concentrate.  
  
"Akane, I have to tell you something I saw this morning." Nabiki spoke up. Akane opened her eyes and looked at her. "I saw Shampoo pop out of a hiding place after Ranma ran off to take you to see Dr. Tofu." Nabiki continued. "She took something out of Kuno's hair."  
  
"What did it looked like?" Akane asked her.  
  
Nabiki shook her head. "I wasn't close enough to get a good look."  
  
"Could it have been a comb?" Akane wondered.  
  
Nabiki nodded. "It could have been."  
  
Akane was on her feet in a flash. "Oh my gosh! Shampoo's laying a trap for Ranma, that's gotta be!"  
  
* * *  
  
"I knew it, the baka got lost again."  
  
Ranma sat on top of an old stump that sat in the middle of vacant lot across town. It was not the same vacant lot that sat next to Ryoga's house that they usually used for their battles. That to Ranma was odd, but he did not ponder on it for long. The code demanded that he wait until sunset for the lost boy to show up, then he'd go home to sleep and return later after school. Of course, he did not think Ryoga was good enough for him to observed the warrior's code to honor the baka, but Ranma had his pride. He was unaware of the fact that a pair of attractive eyes were watching him from a distance.  
  
Shampoo smiled proudly as she watched her airen sitting there waiting for Ryoga to show up, but of course he was nowhere near Nerima at the moment and it was not him who wrote the challenge letter. The Amazon knew Ranma would never ever back out of a challenge once issued, and he would wait for Ryoga for days if need be. She clutched the Comb of Suggestion in her hand, all she had to do was slip it into his hair and he would do whatever she commanded him to do. The one problem was getting close enough to Ranma without triggering his danger sense to put it in his hair.  
  
The beautiful Nyanchiczu warrior slipped out of her place of concealment, a cherry blossom tree across the street from the vacant lot, and concentrated to suppress her chi levels. She remembered that the nice doctor across town was able to suppress his chi so low that his presence was virtually undetectable. Even by her! It had been a little unnerving for Shampoo during her short stint as Dr. Tofu's assistant when she first arrived in Nerima to see out Ranma the outside girl. That was back before she knew about Ranma's Josenkyo curse, before she returned to China in disgrace, received a Josenkyo curse as punishment for her failure, and returned to Nerima with her great grandmother.  
  
"Geeze, at least he could have the presence of mind to have somebody show back to the place he set as the location of the fight." Ranma groaned as he sat on the stump looking exceedingly bored.  
  
Ranma froze. He felt a null presence near him and looked around. He half expected Dr. Tofu to show up, whenever he felt that sensation it was usually him. He had the bad habit of suppressing his chi all the time, virtually erasing all sense of his presence. But Ranma had learned to feel for the null presence created by someone who was making an effort not to be detected. He knew for sure Ryoga did not have the ability or the subtlety to be able to do something like that. He shrugged it off after he failed to see anyone around him and decided to get in a little meditation. He folded his legs up underneath him and closed his eyes. He did not see Shampoo slink out of the shadows towards him with the comb in her hand poised to slide into his hair.  
  
"Shampoo don't do it!" came Akane's cry from somewhere in the distance.  
  
"Huh? Akane?" Ranma blinked and looked up to see her running towards him in the distance. It was then that his danger sense went on red alert. In a flash Ranma rolled forward, flipped hand over heels twice, then stopped on his feet a few feet away and whirled around. A very stunned looking Shampoo looked at him with wide eyes where she stood just behind the stump he had been sitting on a few seconds before.  
  
"Ranma!" Akane yelled as she neared the vacant lot.  
  
"Shampoo, what are you doing here?" he demanded.  
  
"She wrote that challenge letter, its a trap!" Akane cried as she ran into the vacant lot. As she did Shampoo sprang into action. She leapt towards Ranma who quickly dodged out of her way and ducked under the swipe of her hand that grasped the comb.  
  
"What are you doing, what is that thing?" Ranma shouted at the amorous Amazon.  
  
"Rivalry for Ranma finally over, and Shampoo win." she replied.  
  
"Not likely." Ranma said as he took a defensive stance just as Akane ran up behind him.  
  
"I don't know what you think you're up to but its not gonna work!" Akane yelled at her.  
  
Shampoo raised her hands and showed them to the pair. "Shampoo already win." she said. Her hands were empty.  
  
"Huh? The comb, Ranma its in your hair!" Akane exclaimed when she spotted the same comb she had seen in her vision of Shampoo earlier.  
  
Ranma raised his hand to pluck it out of his hair when Shampoo said, "Ranma no touch comb unless Shampoo say so." He stopped and put his hands down.  
  
"Ok." he said.  
  
"What!?" Akane gasped in shock.  
  
"Now, Ranma walk over to Shampoo and take her in arms." the Amazon said.  
  
"Uh, alright." Ranma said as he walked over to the beautiful warrior and wrapped his arms around her lovingly.  
  
"RANMA!" Akane cried as she watched his in total disbelief. "What have you don't to him you Chinese bimbo!?"  
  
Shampoo just looked at her with a defiant smile. "Ranma do whatever Shampoo say, he is Shampoo's airen now and forever."  
  
Akane balled her fists and took a fighting stance. "I am not letting you take him away form me!" she snarled.  
  
"Humph! Baka kitchen destroyer get in way of Shampoo's happiness for last time." Shampoo said angrily. "Time to get rid of Akane so she never bother Shampoo and airen ever again."  
  
"Bring it on sister!" Akane growled as she readied herself for a fight.  
  
"Shampoo no fight Akane, think it better if airen have this honor." Shampoo said with a wicked smirk.  
  
"Nani?" Akane looked at her in horror.  
  
Shampoo turned to Ranma and said in a very loving voice, "Airen, do big huge favor for Shampoo and get rid of Akane."  
  
"Ok." Ranma said and he began walked towards Akane slowly.  
  
"No! Ranma its me Akane, stop!" Akane cried as she slowly backed away from him.  
  
"He no listen to baka kitchen destroyer, he listen only to Shampoo." Shampoo laughed.  
  
"Ranma don't do this! Please!" Akane cried as Ranma's big hands encircled Akane's neck and started to squeeze.  
  
"Bye bye Akane, been good fight but Shampoo want to take airen home to China now." Shampoo said with a happy smile as Akane felt Ranma's powerful hands start to crush her wind pipe. Before her air was completely cut off she was able to croak out one last sentence.  
  
"Ranma, I love you."  
  
The Saotome boy's hands suddenly started to shudder and shake slightly. His face which had been emotionless a moment ago now looked strained. Akane felt the crushing force of his finger on her throat slowly let off. If he had applied just a little more pressure, she realized, her neck would have snapped like a twig. Ranma let her go and staggered backwards.  
  
"What you problem airen?" Shampoo demanded. "Get rid of Akane now!"  
  
Ranma straightened up and started towards Akane again, but he stopped and raised his hands to his hand and staggered to the side. He let out groans as if in terrible pain and fell down one knee while still clutching his head.  
  
"Ranma, you kill Akane now, can no resist!" Shampoo shouted at him, but Ranma cried out louder as he tried to stand.  
  
"Kill Akane, Shampoo command you!" Shampoo screamed in frustration at the boy.  
  
Ranma fell to both knees and looked as if he was trying to rip his own hair out, then his hands reached up towards the comb in his hair and tried to grasp it. Shampoo saw this and cried, "Ranma no touch comb!" Ranma's hands tried again, and this time his fingers grasped onto it.  
  
"NNNOOOOO!!!!!" he cried as he yanked the comb out of his hair and slumped to the ground unconscious.  
  
"Impossible!" Shampoo cried in total dismay. She turned her attention to Akane who looked at the Chinese girl with an expression of pure contempt as she massaged her aching neck.  
  
"I can't believe you just tried to make Ranma kill me!" Akane screamed at her in rage. "Of all the things you ever done to us this is the worst! You're a monster, you don't deserve to have Ranma much less anyone else!"  
  
The Nyanchiczu warrior produced her bonbori maces out of nowhere and advanced on Akane with murder in her eyes. "Shampoo loose patience, tried to be nice to Tendo Akane but she wait no longer to get airen!" she cried. "Now she take her airen, she do this Amazon way like should be done from beginning!"  
  
Akane took a fighting stance even though she knew she did not stand a ghost of a change against the Amazon in a real fight. A million thoughts went through Akane's mind at that moment. She was about to die and she knew it. Shampoo was serious this time about getting Ranma, whether he was willing to go with her or not. It all boiled down to this confrontation, right here, right now, and Tendo Akane was the only thing standing in her way. Hate rose up in her heart, hate for the girl advancing towards her right now intending to end her life. It was so strong, Akane could literally taste it in her mouth.  
  
"I hate you!" Akane cried. "I HATE YOU!!!!"  
  
All the hate and rage inside of Akane suddenly flared up. Shampoo's eyes went wide and she stepped back as Akane's body was enveloped in an aura of immense power. The girl rose up off the ground a few feet and invisible forces kicked up a powerful wind that made her dress fly up around her waist. Shampoo stopped retreating and took a fighting stance preparing to deliver a Death Blow to Akane's head.  
  
"NOBODY TAKES RANMA AWAY FROM ME, NOBODY!" Akane cried as she instinctively cupped her fists in Shampoo's direction. The Amazon gasped in horror was a sphere of energy formed between Akane's cupped hands then shot forth. Shampoo did not have time to dodge the blast, it struck her full force in the chest and pushed her back along the ground leaving a deep trench in the earth. When the dust cleared Shampoo lay crumpled up in a heap of rubble within the remains of what had been the stump Ranma had been sitting on minutes ago.  
  
"SHAMPOO!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!?"  
  
Akane turned to see Mousse flying towards her with spiked chains coming out of his shirt sleeves. Akane did not try to dodge the chains, she simply raised her hand and the metal links just curved around her body without touching her. When the enraged male Nyanchiczu reached her he produced a katana sword out of his pants and slashed at her. Akane gestured at the blade and it suddenly curled up until it reached the hilt.  
  
"What the-" Mousse gasped in shock but did not get to finish what he was going to say as Akane raised her hands and fired off an energy blast point-blank into his face.  
  
* * *  
  
"I hate being right all the time."  
  
Cologne looked up at the ancient Weaver with annoyance as they both watched the battle from the concealment of subspace. She winced visibly as Mousse went flying through the air trailing wispy fragments of the energy that had just hit him in the face full force. She looked over where Shampoo lay and sighed with some relief as she saw some signs of life in her great granddaughter. The beautiful Amazon tried to sit up, instantly regretted it, and clutched a hand to her head in agony.  
  
Lady Ambrosia looked down at the diminutive matriarch with a cocky but compassionate smile. "Now what have we learned today?" she asked her.  
  
"Do not get smart with me Ambrosia." Cologne warned her, then she sighed when she saw the look on the other Amazon's face.. "Very well, I revoke both the Kiss of Marriage and the Kill of Death placed on Saotome Ranma by my great granddaughter. Is that fine with you?"  
  
"If you had done this in the first place they would not have had to go through this." Ambrosia said as she gestured towards the battle scene.  
  
"Deciding that was not your place, you presume much and overstep your station Weaver." Cologne growled at her.  
  
"Tell me this old friend, since when does Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu throw out reason for foolish stubbornness?" Ambrosia asked her. "You're misguided attempt to secure the boy as Shampoo's airen could have doomed her if she had succeeded in killing the Tendo girl. Do you think you could have kept Ranma under the control of the comb forever, its effects are only limited as you have seen here today. He would have eventually freed himself, and then what would you have done?"  
  
Cologne just looked at her with a smoldering gaze as Ambrosia went on, "You would have survived maybe three seconds against Prince Herb of the Musk in single combat, even with your considerable skills. Do you think you could have defeated the one who bested the Lord of the Musk, or that our entire village could have survived the wrath of Saotome? The death of Akane would have been the signature on the death warrant of our people, and you know it."  
  
Cologne crossed her arms and looked down at the ground angrily. "Who is to say that will not already happen? He will remember what Shampoo tried to make him do."  
  
"You presume to know him so well, yet you still know him so little." Ambrosia replied. "Look." She gestured towards the vacant lot where Akane was no longer in the thrall of whatever power she had manifested and was cradling Ranma in her arms.  
  
* * *  
  
Akane wept as she held her husband to be in her arms and hugged him tightly to her chest. She could feel him breathing so he was alive at least. Akane ignored the sounds of moaning coming from the ruins of the stump where Shampoo was laying at the moment, and could care less where Mousse landed or it he survived or not. Ranma's eyes fluttered open and they looked around unfocused for moment before they locked onto her tear streaked face.  
  
"A-A-Aka-ne?" he said straining to say the name.  
  
"Ranma, are you alright?" she asked him.  
  
"I t-t-think so." he said, then his eyes went wide as the memory of what had just been doing struck him. "Oh-oh no-no-oh Kami-sama, I tried to kill you Akane!"  
  
"Shhh! Its ok, its over, you fought the power of that comb Ranma, you didn't hurt me." Akane told him soothingly. She heard more sound coming from the stump and looked up to see Shampoo slowly trying to sit up but not getting anywhere very fast. Ranma was getting his strength back and was now able to sit up on his own. Akane stood up and left him there then walked towards the ruined stump. She reached down and picked up on Shampoo's fallen bonbori maces and walked up until she next to the girl.  
  
"You bitch!" Akane spat at her as she raised the mace over her head intending to deliver a fatal blow. A firm but gentle hand stopped her. Akane looked up in surprise to see it was Ranma. His expression was one of sadness but also of compassion.  
  
"Please, don't kill her Akane, don't kill her." he said.  
  
"She deserves to die!" Akane shouted at him. "She tried to make you kill me!"  
  
"If you do this you'll be no better than she is!" Ranma shouted back. "Let it be!"  
  
Akane dropped the weapon and threw herself into Ranma's arms sobbing. He held her tightly as she cried and looked down at Shampoo. The Amazon girl was slowly recovering her strength to get up. She knew she was hurt, very badly hurt, she had a few broken bones that she could feel, and was unable to feel her left leg. She laid back after she tried to sit back up for the fifth time and started to cry.  
  
"Shampoo so sorry, Shampoo was desperate." she sobbed, tears streaking down her face. "Please, airen no hate Shampoo. Shampoo have no will to live if Ranma hate Shampoo."  
  
"I don't hate you Shampoo." he told her softly and the girl's face brightened. That expression turned to immense grief when he went on to say, "I don't hate you, I pity you."  
  
"Airen-"  
  
"Don't call me that anymore, you don't have the right." he told her. "You lost it the moment you tried to make me kill the woman I love."  
  
The woman I love. The woman I love. Those words echoed in Shampoo's head over and over again. She turned her head, unable to look at the pitying look in Ranma's eyes, and cried out in deep sobs. Ranma felt a presence and looked up to see Cologne staring at him.  
  
"Shampoo is hurt pretty bad." he told her.  
  
"Her wounds will be properly tended to, she will live." Cologne said as she knelt down to examine her great granddaughter.  
  
"As soon as she is well enough to travel, I want you and her to leave Nerima." the old the old matriarch. "I do not want to see either you or here in this city again, or the destruction I rained down on Prince Herb will be nothing compared to what I will rain down on the two of you." Ranma's words were spoken calmly without a hint of malice but they made a shiver run up and down Cologne's back nonetheless.  
  
"It is as you wish Ranma, I have already revoked the Kill of Marriage and Kiss of Death." Cologne told him.  
  
"No, great grandmother, no!" Shampoo sobbed as she shook her head.  
  
"What will happen to her?" Ranma asked the old woman.  
  
"She will face judgment before the Council of Elders for her failure to win her airen." Cologne replied. "She will loose her status in the tribe and will be stripped of her rights and privileges. It will then be the decision of the council whether to prescribe one of the two punishments the law calls for in this case."  
  
"What would that be?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Enslavement to the first male who chooses to claim her, which will probably be Mousse." she said. "Shampoo will not have the rights of a warrior, thus Mousse will have the authority to rule over her. He will own her and do whatever he wishes to do with her, and she cannot resist him or suffer terribly if she does. The only other option, which is likely, is immediate execution."  
  
"They'll kill her!?" Ranma said looking down at the fallen warrior.  
  
Cologne nodded sadly. "I will be required to give an account of all of my great granddaughter's failures to win you. Death will likely be her punishment for such dishonor."  
  
"Shampoo died in battle." Ranma said and he looked into the old woman's eyes. "That is what you are going to say, Shampoo died in battle."  
  
"You want me to lie to the Council of Elders?" Cologne looked at him in shook.  
  
"Despite what she did today she doesn't deserve death." he told her. "I didn't know she had this thing over her head! That's why she was so damn disparate isn't it!?" With that last statement he shook his fist at Cologne and his battle aura manifested for a moment.  
  
"That would be the reason, yes." She nodded. "She has failed to win you so often that death would likely be her only punishment."  
  
"As far as you are concerned your great granddaughter died today." Ranma told the old matriarch angrily. "Make it very clear to the council that coming here to cause me or my loved ones trouble is a death sentence in itself."  
  
She looked down at Shampoo who was still sobbing. "What of Shampoo?" she asked him.  
  
"She'll be taken care of." he told her.  
  
The old woman climbed up on her cane. Before bounding off into the distance she turned and said, "Farewell, Ranma. I can't say it hasn't been fun." She turned and bounded away on her cane like a pogo stick and disappeared.  
  
"Why did you do that?" Akane asked him. All this time she had been holding him tightly, now she looked up into his face.  
  
"Because she don't deserve death." he said. "I had no idea they were gonna kill her if she didn't get me as her husband. I couldn't live with that."  
  
Akane looked down at the girl who was still crying her eyes out. "What are we going to do with her?" Akane asked him.  
  
"We'll get her to the Doc." he said. "Then we'll see from there."  
  
"You're being way too compassionate, she doesn't deserve it." Akane said angrily, but rested her head on Ranma's shoulder and held him tightly.  
  
"Come on, she's hurt real bad." he said. Akane nodded and together the two helped Shampoo out of the wreckage of the tree stump. The Amazon groaned in agony as she was being moved, but the two did there best to be gentle. Ranma bent down and gingerly picked the battered girl up in his arms.  
  
"Ranma no hate Shampoo?" she asked him sadly, her eyes fluttered as she tried to hold onto consciousness.  
  
"No, Ranma no hate Shampoo." he told her.  
  
She put her hand on her face and wept. "What have Shampoo done!" She cried. "Shampoo is monster, tried to kill Akane! Now airen no love Shampoo ever!"  
  
He carried her an gently as he could as he and Akane headed down the street towards Dr. Tofu's clinic. "Shampoo, I don't love you 'that way', but I hope that we can be friends at least." he said soothingly. "I know maybe ya think you love me and stuff, but I think it was more the desperation you was facing cause if you didn't win me they were gonna execute you."  
  
"Shampoo in exile, she can no go back home to China now." the girl said, tears falling down her face. For the first time since the who episode started Akane began to feel real sadness for the young Amazon. "She have no family, no friends in Japan."  
  
"You have us." Akane told her startling Ranma. "We could be your family."  
  
"Akane would do this even though Shampoo tried to make Ranma kill you?" Shampoo looked at her in shock.  
  
Akane looked at the ground sadly and said, "I didn't realize either what you were facing if you failed to get Ranma. I can see why you were willing to do anything. I guess what I'm trying to say is-"  
  
"Everybody deserves a second chance." Ranma finished for her. Akane nodded.  
  
Shampoo broke out in renewed sobs. "Shampoo no deserve friends like you! She been scared for so long, she know what she face at home, been so scared!"  
  
"Shhh. It'll be ok, the Doc's place ain't far from here." Ranma said softly. "Everything is gonna be ok, you got me and Akane here, so you won't be alone."  
  
"That's right, we forgive you." Akane told her. "You don't have to be frightened anymore."  
  
* * *  
  
"See what I mean?"  
  
In subspace again, Cologne and Ambrosia watched as Ranma carried Shampoo, with Akane at his side, down the street. She had been shocked to the core that Ranma wanted her to leave Shampoo here in Japan and tell the council that Shampoo had died in battle. Effectively that meant that Shampoo was in exile here and could never go home upon pain of immediately execution. The incredible compassion he was showing Shampoo was also shocking, but not unexpected considering the fact that Cologne knew full well that Saotome Ranma could not bare to see anyone suffer.  
  
"You were right, again." Cologne replied to the ancient Weaver.  
  
"You should learn to listen to me more often." Ambrosia smiled.  
  
"The minute I think I have that young man figured out he suddenly does this and throws me completely off kilter." Cologne said with a lopsided smile.  
  
"Its in his nature, he hates to see others suffer, and he would not want to have Shampoo's death on his conscience if he could have done something about it." Ambrosia told her.  
  
"What about you?" Cologne asked looking at the old woman.  
  
"I have an apprentice to train, a very promising one at that." Ambrosia replied happily.  
  
Cologne sighed with a smile. "I must admit, Tendo Akane did impress me with that show of power."  
  
"It is that same power that will save our world from absolute destruction." the old Weaver replied looking down at Cologne.  
  
"Keep an eye on my great granddaughter." Cologne look up at Ambrosia. "I will not be able to come visit her anymore."  
  
The old Weaver looked up where Ranma and Akane were walking together with Shampoo in the young man's arms. "I think she's in good enough hands already, don't you agree?"  
  
**********  
  
Coming up in Chapter Three  
  
It is six months later and Ranma and Akane are married. Shampoo is adopted into the Saotome clan and is now Ranma's sister. Akane's training is progressing well under the tutelage of Lady Ambrosia. However, dark clouds gather on the horizon. The time of the Apocalypse nears. 


	4. Part 3

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty Productions, and Viz Communications.  
  
**********  
  
UPON ETHEREAL WINGS By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
**********  
  
[ ] = Telepathic communication. " " = Spoken communication.  
  
**********  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Shampoo stretched luxuriously in her futon and sat up to look out her bedroom window at the clear blue sky outside. She felt better today than she ever had in years. Shampoo quickly got up, folded up the blankets, and then the futon mat so she could put them in the corner. That done, she rushed to the closet and pulled out an outfit to wear and her bath supplies. Today she had to do a lot of preparations, today was the six month anniversary of Big Brother Ranma and Big Sister Akane's wedding.  
  
In the aftermath of her exile, at Ranma insistence, Shampoo lost all status among the Nyanchiczu. Thus, she was as an outsider female. To the council of elders she was dead, therefore Shampoo could never return to Joketsuzoku or face execution for failing to marry Saotome Ranma. Shampoo had no family in Japan, nowhere to call home. The only people she knew were Ranma and Akane, and she had just tried to tear them apart and force Ranma to love her. But, Ranma proved to be more compassionate than anyone ever expected and thus he saved her from her terrible fate. Akane and Ranma took Shampoo in at the Tendo dojo, despite the resistance from Akane's father Tendo Soun, but in time he accept the presence of the Chinese girl who tried to murder his youngest daughter.  
  
After the wedding, which was a very simple ceremony attended by just the family, Shampoo, and Dr. Tofu, the new Saotome couple convince Saotome Genma and Nodoka to accept Shampoo into the family as a Saotome by formal adoption. This made Shampoo a part of the family and sister to Ranma. It was the happiest and saddest day of Shampoo's life. On one hand she was overjoyed at being a member of Ranma's family, but on the other hand she was envious of Tendo Akane who was able to share in his life in ways that Shampoo could not. The ex-Amazon grew to love Akane as a sister in time, and she started to refer to her as her "big sister". Happiness finally returned to Shampoo's life, she had a new reason to live and be happy for the first time in a very long time. She was worried though, certain individuals in Nerima were still oblivious to the fact that the two were married. Shampoo was not sure what Kuno, Kodachi, or Ukyo would do once they learned the truth.  
  
Meanwhile, Akane's training under Lady Ambrosia continued in earnest.  
  
* * *  
  
"Concentrate on the water in the cup, imagine in your mind's eye the billions of molecules which make up the water." Lady Ambrosia said softly. She, Akane, and Ranma sat in the Tendo sitting room together. A single cup of ordinary cold tap water sat in front of Akane and at present she was looking at it intently.  
  
"I can see it." Akane replied. "There's so many of them." The clear water to her perspective took on a completely different appearance. She could see billions of tiny clumps of matter floating around one another, colliding and rebounding off one another slowly.  
  
"Good, now will them to move." Lady Ambrosia told her.  
  
"They're already moving." Akane said without looking up at her sensai.  
  
"Will them to move, faster." the Amazon said, rephrasing what she said before.  
  
At first nothing happened. Then, bubbles began to form on the surface of the water, then more bubbles, and finally a few whiffs of steam. The tiny 'things' in Akane's perspective were moving about so fast she could hardly concentrate on them.  
  
"Hey, Akane, you're finally boiling water without burning down the kitchen." Ranma teased her playfully.  
  
Akane looked away form the cup for a second just long enough to shift her attention and refocus her mind on something else. Out in the yard a small pebble rose into the air and hung there for several seconds unnoticed by anyone in the house. Suddenly, it shot towards the open shogi doors and struck Ranma in the back of the head.  
  
"OUCH!"  
  
"Baka."  
  
Ranma shot the ancient Amazon a scathing look as she covered her mouth trying to hold off a chuckle. "I suppose I was asking for that." he said.  
  
Akane glanced from the now boiling water to smirk at her husband and said, "I'll make it up to you tonight."  
  
"I'm counting on it." Ranma smirked back.  
  
"You are such a pervert."  
  
Ranma laughed. "HA! That coming from a girl who likes to do it with me in both forms, now who's the pervert?"  
  
"Ah! Ah! Now is not the time for this romantic banter you two." Lady Ambrosia said clapping her hands. "This is serious training."  
  
"Sorry sensai." Akane nodded towards the woman.  
  
"Well, I think that's enough for this morning." the ancient Weaver said with a smile. "We'll pick this up later after lunch." With a wink towards Akane the old woman stood up and walked towards the kitchen.  
  
Akane turned her attention towards Ranma who flinched away a little when he got a load of her expression. "That little comment you just made Ranma." she said. "You know I gotta punish you for it now, don't you."  
  
"Y-Y-Yeah." Ranma nodded fearfully.  
  
Akane got up quietly and walked over to one of the bookshelves in the room. She turned around quickly holding four long feathers in each hand between each of the fingers of her fists.  
  
"NO NOT THAT!" Ranma cried.  
  
"Mwahahahahaha!" Akane cackled. "Stand still and take your punishment!"  
  
"YIKES!" Ranma cried out as Akane ran towards him. He leapt into the back yard and tripped over something. He looked down and saw that he had tripped over the hose for the yard sprinkler, but it was now hovering up off the ground.  
  
"Hey, that's cheating!" Ranma yelled as he rolled with the fall and landed on his back.  
  
"HA! Take this!" Akane cried when she finally reached him. "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"  
  
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STOP! HAHAHAHAHA! I CAN'T TAKE IT! I'M TICKLISH THERE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  
  
"Geeze, I liked it better when she was just hitting him." Nabiki slurred tiredly as she came down the steps and into the sitting room.  
  
Lady Ambrosia smiled at them from the kitchen. She was happy to see the couple getting along so well. It was a very different contrast from what she heard about them before Ranma faced Prince Herb. Nothing much changed in the lives of the two teenagers after the weeding other than the fact that Ranma and Akane shared the same bedroom now, Shampoo slept in Ranma's old room and was now officially his sister, and Ranma's father and mother slept in the dojo. The untamed chaos that seemed to surround Ranma's life seemed to have ebbed, but only for a fleeting moment. As she poured the rice into the electric rice cooker Lady Ambrosia felt a presence outside. She reached out with her highly tuned senses. She knew her apprentice would not be sensitive enough yet to detect the presence. Whoever it was they were making themselves very hard to locate, but Lady Ambrosia zeroed in on him easily despite his efforts to mask his aura. She regarded this stranger who spied upon the Tendo home, and more accurately the loving couple who were now kissing each other fervently on the ground. He was a curious thing, short and squat, dressed in the garb of the ninja but his face was not covered. In her mind's eye Lady Ambrosia received an impression of another person, the one whom this ninja answered to. He stood tall and proud donning the garb of the samurai of old and brandishing a wooden practice bokken. She felt pride, arrogance, and the complete lack of the ability to comprehend reality oozing from him. Of course, she knew who this person was, if you lived in the Tendo dojo long enough you would soon come to know almost all of Ranma's enemies. She knew the little ninja from Akane's description of him; Sasuke. So, Lady Ambrosia did nothing to stop the little man from leaving the Tendo home after observing Akane and Ranma. It was time her pupil had a test of her new abilities, and a good confrontation with Kuno Tatawaki was in order. She smiled to herself for her ingenuity. Today was going to be very interesting.  
  
***  
  
To the outside world it looked like nothing changed between Akane and Ranma. Students on their way to school saw Ranma walking the fence with Akane down on the sidewalk beside him with Nabiki bringing up the rear. Nobody had seen the pair take off their weeding bands and hide them in special secret pockets that Kasumi had sewn into their clothes. The two did not like having to hide the truth, they wanted to be together, to hand hands as walked down the street, but it was too dangerous right now. The issue of Shampoo was no longer an issue anymore, but there was still Kuno, Kodachi, and Ukyo to contend with. The first two, Ranma knew, would be the worst to deal with, but in his heart Ranma dreaded the day Ukyo found out the truth. He did not love her in the way she wanted him to, he loved her like as a friend and nothing more. She had a legitimate claim to him because of his baka father, but with the marriage that was a moot point right now. Ukyo, however, did not know this. Neither Ranma nor Akane could bring themselves to believe Ukyo would ever do anything drastic if she learned the truth, but the Kuno siblings were another matter altogether.  
  
"It cannot be!" Kuno roared as he grabbed a frightened Sasuke by the front of his ninjitsu outfit. Other students in the front grounds of Furinken High School gave them just a cursory glance. Little bursts of rage from Kuno like this were common place at school. The deranged wannabe samurai would learn some news about Ranma or Akane and have a short temper tantrum. Today was not going to be different.  
  
"I swear it on my honor, master!" Sasuke replied in a frightened voice. "I saw the Lady Akane and the foul Saotome kissing this morning at the Tendo dojo."  
  
Kuno flung the little man to the ground, to Sasuke's relief, and raised his fist in rage. "Saotome." Kuno hissed through clenched teeth. "So the evil grip of your dark magic over Akane's heart has grown stronger. This I will not allow to continue any longer." He took a gallant pose hold his bokken aloft. "I shall rain down the punishment of heaven upon thee Saotome Ranma!" he cried and blue lightning flashed in the background behind him.  
  
***  
  
Ranma looked up at the sky and at the dark clouds gathering on the horizon and sighed. "Aw man, its gonna rain today." he said. "And I forgot the umbrellas."  
  
Akane shielded her eyes with her hand and looked up at the sky. "That's funny, the news this morning didn't say anything about rain." she said.  
  
"Let's just get to school before it starts pouring and we can worry about it after we get inside." Nabiki said.  
  
"You're right, Nabiki." Akane said.  
  
***  
  
Back at the Tendo dojo Lady Ambrosia and Kasumi were doing the morning dishes. She dried them after Kasumi washed them and put them up in the cupboards. She took a teacup off the rack that Kasumi had just watched and began to dry it. Suddenly, a powerful sensation ran through her body. Lady Ambrosia gasped and dropped the cup and drying rag as she fell down to one knee. Kasumi whirled around at the noise and rushed to the older woman's side.  
  
"Lady Ambrosia, are you alright?" Kasumi asked her with concern.  
  
"No, no it's too soon." Lady Ambrosia said as she gasped for air.  
  
"What's wrong, what is too soon?" Kasumi asked, now gravely concerned. "Father, Mrs. Saotome, I need your help-"  
  
The older woman stood up and put her hand on Kasumi's shoulder. "I'm fine Kasumi dear." she said but still looked flushed.  
  
"What happened?" Kasumi asked her.  
  
Lady Ambrosia looked out the window at the darkening sky and said, "Something I hadn't been expecting. I had intended to test my apprentice this day, but not quite like this."  
  
"Whatever is the matter Kasumi dear?" Nodoka asked as she ran into the kitchen.  
  
"It is alright Mrs. Saotome, I am fine." Lady Ambrosia said waving to the woman. "Kasumi is a sweet child, she just got a little over concerned for this old woman. How clumsy of me to drop this teacup." She bent down and picked up the piece of the broken cup. Her eyes closed in concentration for a moment and before their eyes the cup began to form back together. "There, good as new." she said and put it up in the cupboard.  
  
***  
  
"Why did I feel a cold shiver just now?, Akane asked herself out loud as they reached the gates of Furinken High. It was the most eerie feeling Akane had ever felt, like a sense of foreboding or dread. She looked at the darkening sky and could not help feel a chill run through her body all the way to her bones despite the fact that it was quite warm out.  
  
"You alright Akane?" Ranma asked her.  
  
"Something's wrong." she said.  
  
"SAOTOME YOU FIEND!"  
  
The turned to regard the rampaging Kendoist. It was almost a daily ritual for them to go through Kuno's jealous rages. Ranma was about to deliver one of his usually verbal quips at the wannabe samurai which usually ended up pissing Kuno off, but he did not get the chance this time. Ranma leapt backwards in a somersault to avoid getting hit by the boy's rapid bokken strikes.  
  
"RELEASE AKANE FROM YOUR FOUL SPELL OR DIE!" Kuno roared.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked him as he easily avoided the bokken strikes. Kuno lunged putting all of his strength and speed into the move, but his bokken succeeded only in slicing through thin air where Ranma had been standing a split second before.  
  
"My loyal retainer Sasuke witnessed the whole vile affair himself!" Kuno hissed in rage. "How dare you place your lips upon the fair Akane!"  
  
Akane's eyes bulged. "Sasuke saw us this morning?" she breathed in surprise. She looked over at her sister who shrugged her shoulders.  
  
Oh great, now how do I handle this?, Ranma asked himself. They had been putting on an act that he and Akane did not like one another, but was become increasingly difficult for them. The two did not want to hide that they were truly in love, but fools like Kuno made it unfortunately necessary. The pigtailed boy glanced over at Akane who nodded her head once at him, then he turned his attention back to the enraged Kendoist.  
  
"I ain't got no idea what you're talking about Kuno." Ranma replied angrily.  
  
"You deny that you had your lips on Akane!" Kuno screamed with defiant rage. That yell, Akane suddenly noticed with a feeling of dread, was starting to attract a large crowd of students. She could hear them murmuring all sorts of things about what they just heard. Akane sigh, not because of the rumors that would be flying around campus now, but because it was probably going to cost a pretty penny to get Nabiki to work on damage control.  
  
"Why would I wanna kiss that violent tomboy!?" Ranma yelled back at him. Those words had come so easily to him in the past, but now he had to force them out. They hurt Akane so much, but that was in the past and she knew they were empty words now. This was a game they had to play to keep the Kunos and anyone who would be a major problem from discovering the truth.  
  
"How dare you speak of Akane like that!" Kuno slipped into a fighting stance and brought his bokken up into a ready position. "I shall smite you and free the fair Akane of your lecherousness!" With that said the wannabe samurai launched his attack. This time it was not the fast and precise moved he displayed while under the influence of the Comb of Suggestion. Kuno was in his usual form, pitiful as it was, and Ranma easily flowed around the sword blows as easily as water flowed around the rocks in a stream. Like in many of their fights, Ranma up ground to Kuno as the enraged boy chased him around the school yard. Eventually, Kuno ripped a huge gouge out of the wall surround the school yard and sliced a tree completely in half with little effort. A sound of thunder warned Ranma that rain was imminent and he did not want to be stuck in female form around this arrogant nut case. It was bad enough that he hated and wanted to kill the boy Saotome Ranma, but it was worse when he wanted to glomp his beloved "pigtailed girl".  
  
Ranma changed the flow of the battle in an instant, switching from being on the defensive to being on the offensive. With one mighty leap, Ranma was flying over the heads of the gathered students. While airborne he had just enough time to see Nabiki and her girls working the crowd and taking bets. As he came down Kuno took a swing as him with his sword, if Ranma had been an ordinary man the swing would have cut him in half, but Ranma was not an ordinary man. Changing his center of gravity, Ranma shift around as he fell turning his body just enough to avoid the deadly bokken swing. He alighted to the ground just inches away from Kuno. The Kendoist barely has two seconds to react, but that was all Ranma needed. Using Amaguriken speed, Ranma hit two shiatsu points in succession; the first one was a temporary version of Happosai's moxibustion strength sapping technique, and the second was an instant sleep spot. The Kendoist who had been fighting Ranma with all his worth suddenly collapsed like a sack of potatoes.  
  
"Gotta remember to thank the doc for showing me those pressure points." Ranma said to himself out loud as he looked down at his fallen rival.  
  
***  
  
"That was pretty close today." Akane said. She leaned against their usual tree at lunchtime out in the school grounds. The sky was still dark with gray clouds, but there had been no sign of rain at all the entire day. The couple had not wanted to spend lunch indoors at the off-chance someone would overhear their conversation. The one both of them were worried about the most was Kuonji Ukyo. The okonomiyaki chef, the couple noticed, was starting to get suspicious. It began when she discovered that the Nekohauten was closed down and the Amazons were gone. By accident Ukyo had learned that Shampoo was living at the Tendo dojo, but was unaware of the situation going on there. Her curiosity was peaked however, and keeping the secret of their marriage from Ukyo was going to get harder as time went by. Ranma and Akane saw no way out of it. One day soon they were going to have to tell her the truth, and Ranma was dreading that day for as soon as she finds out word will spread and every rival he has for Akane's hand will wage World War III on his head.  
  
"Tell me about it." Ranma said. "But I'm really getting tired of having to hide that we're married. I'm not ashamed that we're together, I'm happy actually."  
  
"Yeah, but we gotta keep it quiet or the Kunos will make our lives impossible." Akane said before taking a bite from her bento box. It was one of Shampoo's culinary creations this time, but neither of them were complaining. Shampoo was an excellent cook.  
  
Ranma sighed, "Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, or so I've heard."  
  
Akane smiled at him, "Since when did you become so philosophical?"  
  
"Hey, I have been paying attention in class you know." he said.  
  
Akane put her finger up to her lips and whispered, "Ukyo!"  
  
"Ranma honey, Akane, hi!' the okonomiyaki chef called to them as she walked up. The girl, dressed in a boy's school uniform, knelled down and immediately began to assemble her portable grill.  
  
"Hope you guys don't mind while I make some lunch." she said.  
  
"We don't mind, Ucchan." Ranma said. Ukyo tried reading his tone but found no hidden meaning in it. She was getting nervous, ever since she found out that Shampoo was living with the Tendo family the chef knew something strange was happening. For one thing, Shampoo acted differently around Ranma than she usually did. Ukyo could not put her finger on it though, she needed more information before she could come to a conclusion, but the picture that was being painted so far was not in her opinion a pretty one.  
  
"Go right ahead, me and Ranma just ate." Akane said.  
  
Ukyo just smiled, "Oh, you and I both know Ranma honey can eat more than that, sugar."  
  
"That's true, Ranma is a bottomless pit." Akane said.  
  
"Hey." Ranma said with a hurt expression. Akane suppressed her smile when Ranma squeezed her hand in a way that Ukyo could not see. It was at that moment Akane decided to put some of her new powers to the test. Ukyo put lit the propane burners on her grill and was about to put the cooking surface down when Akane focused her thoughts. She manipulated the molecules of air around the grill, held them in place, and created an invisible membrane. The result, the flames had no more oxygen supply and winked out.  
  
"What the-" Ukyo said as she watched the fire wink out.  
  
"Problem?" Akane asked her. Ranma looked at her with a funny expression and Akane winked.  
  
"That's funny, that never happened before." Ukyo said as she lit the flame again. This time Akane focused again, but drew the molecules in this time. She concentrated the oxygen molecules around the flame. The result, the small, controlled flames from the burners blow torched five feet into the air.  
  
"YAH!" Ukyo shouted in surprise and leapt back to keep her hair from becoming a lit torch.  
  
"How did that happen?" Ranma asked as his old friend shut off the gas and disconnected the propane bottle.  
  
"Sorry, Ranma honey, looks like I gotta take my grill in to be fixed." Ukyo said apologetically. "I've never seen it do this before." She disassembled the grill within seconds, waved to her friends, and headed back into the school with a sulking expression.  
  
"Bad Akane, bad." Ranma said playfully.  
  
"Who me, did I do that?" Akane asked him with a very fake expression of innocence on her face.  
  
Ranma laughed, "Hey, if you can do that to Ukyo I can just imagine what you can do to the old freak."  
  
"Speaking of him, I haven't seen Happosai around lately." Akane said.  
  
Ranma folded his arms behind his head and leaned against the tree. "I like it that way." he said. "I'd be happy if I never saw him again."  
  
A peel of thunder from the sky startled the two. Ranma decided at that moment digressions was the better part of valor and the two made for the school. As they reached the doors the first rain drops fell. Ranma sighed with relief, at least it decided to rain after he got into the school and not before. He turned to Akane, about to ask her if she wanted to go someplace private to talk until lunch period was over, but the expression on her face made the hair on the back of his neck rise up on end.  
  
"Akane?"  
  
"Ranma, something is wrong." she said looking out into the rain. "I just had this feeling like someone was walking over my grave."  
  
"I don't feeling anything." Ranma said.  
  
"Something is out there." Akane said still looking out into the rain. "Something not human." The look on Akane's face filled Ranma with dread. He understood the nature of Akane's special training, and Lady Ambrosia made it clear that Akane was going to become extra sensitive to the supernatural.  
  
"Do ya wanna go home?" he asked her. "You look white as a sheet, Akane."  
  
Akane reached out for his hand and squeezed it. "I'm scared." she said. "It's close, I can feel it, and it knows I'm here."  
  
"What is it?" Ranma asked her.  
  
Akane shook her head, "I don't know, but I don't think its friendly."  
  
"Ok, that's it, we're going home." Ranma decided and lead Akane out into the rain. Immediately he felt the change, and soon anyone who had been noticing would have seen Akane and a redheaded girl running away from the school hand in hand. Indeed someone did notice the two from her classroom window, and she found it unusual that a couple who claimed not to be a couple would run off together holding hands. She had been watching the pair for some time from the sidelines, watching Ranma's fights, watching Akane's reaction to Ranma's other iinazuke and the girl from the ramen restaurant, and how the two acted around each other when they thought nobody else was watching. But, someone was watching, and taking notes.  
  
Ikari Masuka took out her special notebook and wrote this little tidbit of information down with the rest of what she had been gathering about Furinken High's most popular couple. She noticed she was about to fill this one up with her latest observations, and she had ten more like it hidden away for safe keeping. One of her subordinate walked up to her and handed her a clipboard. She was a pretty girl with dark brown hair done up in two ponytails that hung down to the middle of her back. Masuka, compared to the girl, was a ravishing beauty with long lustrous black hair, jade green eyes, and a very ample chest. She knew she was beautiful and used her good looks to get what she wanted. Masuka was accustomed to getting what she wanted when she wanted it and if that meant putting out on occasion, so be it. It was a wonder the girl did not have a reputation, but most guys who played beneath the sheets with her were too afraid of her afterward to say anything. Life would have been perfect here for Masuka in such a target rich environment like Furinken High, but she was not the only shark in the water.  
  
"How bad does it look, Takari?" Masuka asked the girl.  
  
"Nabiki beat us to the punch again this morning." the girl said sadly as she handed the clipboard to Masuka. "We managed to make about ten thousand, but we estimate Nabiki must have pulled about forty thousand."  
  
Masuka groaned and said, "Damn."  
  
"She's really got a big advantage over us, being Tendo Akane's sister and all." the girl said. Masuka had arrived at Furinken as a transfer student from Juuban, and it was rumored that the student from her old school held a huge party to celebrate her leaving. She was like Nabiki, she loved money, and was willing to do just about anything to get it. Masuka was a bit different from Nabiki in some ways, unlike the middle Tendo sister she was willing to sleep with someone to get her way. Usually, Masuka used sex as blackmail. She's find a cute, rich boy who had a girlfriend who was also really cute, she'd seduce him into a one night stand while her cohorts videotaped the whole erotic affair, then turn around the fleece the guy for nearly everything he had in payment to stay quiet about it. In this respect, Masuka was worse than Nabiki, but the one thing she lacked that Nabiki had was cunning. Nabiki stayed one step ahead of her competition in nearly everything at Furinken but the blackmail department. Masuka's motives were power and money, Nabiki's motives were the same thing but she also did what she did for her family and put most of the money she made towards keeping the bills paid and food on the table. Nabiki was simply the more nobler of the two evils.  
  
"And, it don't help that we don't have anything on her either." Masuka sighed. "We could have used what we knew about Ranma's curse, but now everybody in the school knows except that harebrained rich kid who thinks he's a samurai."  
  
"What about the 'Project'?" Takari asked her, whispering the word "Project".  
  
"I think we have enough info to go ahead with it." Masuka said quietly. "Get that hacker sister of yours on this for me, I need it in five days." She wrote a short note on a piece of paper and discreetly passed it over to Takari. The girl looked at and blanched.  
  
"Boss, we could get 'real' hard time if we're caught doing this." she said.  
  
"Please, you and I both know your sister could hack into that system in her sleep and be out before anybody noticed anyone broke in." Masuka said shaking her head.  
  
"But, this is the government." Takari said pointing at the paper.  
  
"I need that information, without it the 'Project' is dead in the water and Nabiki will continue to walk all over us." Masuka looked at her angrily.  
  
Takari folded up the paper and tucked it into her purse. "Ok, what if she gets the info and we don't get caught?" Takari asked. "It could still backfire on us, Nabiki is as a threat is one thing, but I really don't wanna piss off that Saotome."  
  
"Don't worry, if what I suspect is going on is what really is going on he won't dare do a thing to us." Masuka said with a wicked smirk. "But this time next week we'll have Nabiki working for us, and Ranma will be our bread winner." She gave a short maniacal laugh drawing worried and frightened looks from her other classmates. When Masuka laughed about something, it usually meant somebody was going to get hurt.  
  
***  
  
The streets of Nerima were deserted as the rain full. Shoppers went indoors to get out of the rain, children looked out their windows in dismay that their play had to interrupted by Mother Nature. The only two who were running about on the street was a girl in a Furinken High School uniform and a beautiful redhead girl wearing Chinese clothes. The couple ran hand in hand, with every step Akane's new awareness of the universe around her was screaming out to her. The messages she was getting were not good. Even Ranma, who had felt nothing at first, was now starting to sense something. Her danger sense was picking up something at the edge of her perception that was not kosher. The last time this happened was when she faced off against Herb, but this time around it did not feel like the sex changing prince of the Musk. This was something alien, something unnatural, something evil beyond description.  
  
"This is nuts!" Ranma yelled over the sound of the rain. "I can feel it but I can't tell where its at!"  
  
"Its close!" Akane said while looking around in fright.  
  
"What is it?" Ranma asked her.  
  
Akane shook her head, "I don't know."  
  
They were only two blocks from the dojo when something made the hairs on the back of Ranma's head stand up on end. Whatever it was, "it" was in front of them. She looked down the sidewalk and could just see the front gates to the Tendo dojo, but not far ahead of them she noticed a small figure. It was a little girl dressed in a frilly white dress with her long blond hair tied back with a white bow. She stood there barefoot on the sidewalk with the raining pouring down around her. Ranma did a double take, why was a little girl making her danger sense go crazy? She looked to be no more than ten or twelve years of age.  
  
Ranma looked at Akane to read her reaction. The youngest Tendo sister was transfixed with fear. Ranma could feel from her grasp of Akane's hand that the girl was shivering. The evil she felt coming off of that little girl was almost a physical force washing up against her like fierce waves from a hurricane.  
  
[Akane, remember what I have taught you.]  
  
She heard in her mind the sound of Lady Ambrosia's voice which quickly put Akane at ease, and like she had been instructed Akane performed the quick meditation technique to help her find her focus.  
  
[That's it, you can do this my dear.] she heard Lady Ambrosia say. [I will be here, do not worry. Ranma must NOT attack her, he will die if he does.]  
  
"Akane?" Ranma came around and looked at her trying to shake her out of her trance.  
  
"Ranma, you can't interfere, you gotta stay back no matter what happens." Akane said looking into Ranma's beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"Don't interfere in what?" Ranma asked a bit annoyed that Akane would ask him not to get involved in something that concerned her. Ranma's protectiveness over Akane was in full force.  
  
"Please, Lady Ambrosia said you can't get involved." Akane said and stepped around Ranma. The redhead turned to ask her a question about what meant by that when she noticed the little girl was no longer way down the street but only a few paces away from them. A chill ran down Ranma's back when her eyes met the little girl's. They were not human eyes, they looked human, but they had an intense inhuman coldness to them that filled her with loathing.  
  
"So, you are the one I felt." the little girl said in perfect Nihongo with a distinctively British accent. "I'm a bit disappointed." Her tone was emotionless.  
  
"Who are you?" Akane asked her.  
  
"I am a messenger." the little girl replied. "I've come, Tendo Akane, to tell you something." She knows Akane's name?, Ranma gasped silently.  
  
"What message would that be?" Akane asked her.  
  
The little girl did not smile or make any sign of emotion in her face. Only those cold emotionless eyes seemed to cut into Akane's soul. "The message I bring, Tendo Akane, " the girl said, "Is that it is time for you to be reunited with your mother."  
  
Akane gasped, "M-M-My mother?"  
  
"Yes, your mother." the girl said. "You do want to see her?"  
  
"Yes, I do." Akane replied excitedly.  
  
"Then go to her." the girl said then swung her hand in the air in front of her. An invisible force suddenly struck Akane and Ranma with incredible power. The couple flew high into the air. As they tumbled Ranma grabbed a screaming Akane and positioned herself so she would take the blunt of the impact when they landed. Ranma groaned when they finally slammed into the side of a house buckling the wooden joists.  
  
"Ugh, what the hell hit us?" Ranma asked.  
  
"You're both still alive." came the voice of the little girl. Ranma looked up and saw she was right there in front of them. "I underestimated your resilience."  
  
"What the hell are you!?" Ranma roared as she lunged at the little girl. Ranma was mad, this was not a child, this was some kind of thing in the guise of a child and she was going to pound it into dust. Ranma's fist never hit its mark, the little girl pointed her finger at the redhead then swept her hand towards the street. Ranma cried as she was torn away from Akane and thrown into the house across the street with enough force to send her smashing through the wall.  
  
"Now, your mother is waiting." the little girl said to Akane.  
  
"GO TO HELL!" Akane screamed and reached out with her new powers as she had been trained. She threw her hands forward as if performing Ranma's chi technique, but instead a stream of superheated molecules erupted from between her palms and struck the thing that looked like a little girl. The plasma that was composed of air molecules had been superheated in an instant by Akane's Weaver abilities. The temperature of the gel-like, superheated substance was the same as the surface of the sun, but Akane did not feel any heat at all. The thing that looked like a child, however, was not so lucky. Her supple white flesh instantly turned black then evaporated in the intensity of the heat. An inhuman scream came form her small mouth as she fell back onto the ground.  
  
Across the street Ranma pulled herself out of the ruined house and watched the tail end of Akane's devastating attack. She heard the inhuman scream and cried out to Akane triumphantly. Her glee suddenly turned to dread as the body of the little girl writhed and began to morph before her eyes into a new form. Akane took that moment to make a run for it, and she met Ranma in the middle of the street. Where the little girl has been laying on the ground there was now a thing out of their worst nightmares. It stood almost as tall as Pantyhose Taro in his curse form, but was nearly ten times uglier. The thing reminded Ranma of the tentacle rape demons from the manga Nabiki liked to read. Its skin, if it could be called that, was black and shined as if it was slick with some oozing substance. The body was like that of a man, but in place of arms and legs were bundles of black tentacles. The head was elongated into a snout lined with vicious teeth, those same emotionless eyes, and a pair of wicked horns that appeared to be made of clear crystal. The entire vision was like a maniac's nightmare come to life.  
  
"What the hell is that thing!?" Ranma cried.  
  
"Now, I am angry." the thing said in a voice that was inhuman, guttural and filled with undisguised malice. "I was going to make your deaths painless, but now I've changed my mind."  
  
[Akane, don't loose your focus!] Lady Ambrosia warned her in her mind. [Remember what you are, this is the reason why I've been training you.]  
  
[What is it?] Akane asked her.  
  
[That is for another time.] the Amazon replied. [This foe is beyond Ranma's skill, but he will insist on attacking it to protect you. You must not allow that, or it will kill him as easily as one will kills a fly.] Akane's heart leapt into her throat, but she knew what she had to do. Altering the flow of time was something Lady Ambrosia had only begin to teach her, and Akane did so as she turned around and touched Ranma's sleep spot on her neck. To Ranma, her wife moved with unimaginable speed, then the dumbing bliss of sleep flood her perception.  
  
"Forgive me." Akane said as she eased Ranma to the ground.  
  
"I'm the one you want!" Akane yelled at the monster as she ran away from Ranma's sleeping form. "Come and get me if you dare!"  
  
The thing roared shattering every glass window on the street and with a speed that was not to be believed it lunged at Akane. The young Weaver in training fought hard to keep her focus on her fledgling powers, again she influenced the flow of time around herself. The monster's whipping tentacles came at her, but with time altered she was able to evade them easily. Adjusting the pull of gravity around herself, Akane gained the ability to leap high into the air like her almost superhuman husband. This dodging of attacks went on for several minutes until Akane managed to get some distance away from the thing and also managed to draw it away from both Ranma and her home.  
  
"You are good." the thing said. "But how long can you keep it up."  
  
Akane struggled with ideas on how to kill this thing quickly and get back to Ranma. She thought back to her earlier attack with the plasma, but decided to make a few changes to it. The one thing that Lady Ambrosia drilled into her every day was that the power of a Weaver was limited only by their imagination and their endurance. Focusing on using the Gift to manipulate the Etherium took a great deal out of a person. Akane was only getting warmed up, but she was new to the Weavercraft. The monster found Akane standing at the edge of a small wooded park. With human glee the thing lunged at her, but suddenly found itself encapsulated in some sort of force bubble.  
  
"Long enough to kick your ass!" Akane replied. The air trapped inside of the bubble shift temperature from seventy eight degrees to three thousand degrees within one second. The tentacled monster screamed in an agonized high pitched cry as it was engulfed within a mass of blue gel-like plasma that burned at the temperature of the sun's surface. When the thing inside stopped moving and making noises Akane let go, the bubble vanished, and the air instantly return to its previous temperature. What fell to the ground was a smoldering black mass of filth that smelled like something from a landfill.  
  
"That was easy." Akane sighed and wiped the sweat from her brow.  
  
She started towards where she left Ranma when movement caught her attention. She turned towards the thing she thought was dead, but to her horror it was moving. A horribly burned and maimed version of the monster rose up from the ground and slowly crawled towards her using what was left of its tentacles.  
  
"OH MY KAMI-SAMA!" Akane screamed in terror.  
  
[To kill it you must take its head Akane, you must take its head or it will not die!] the Amazon Weaver's voice cried out in her mind.  
  
How the hell am I supposed to do that?, Akane asked herself as the thing slowly closed on her. The thing was almost on top of her but she was frozen in spot by fright. Akane tried to gain her focus and struggled around the fear that paralyzed her. The monster stopped its forward crawl and struggled to lift itself up and bring its head to bare against her. As if by instinct, Akane felt the Gift within her awaken, she cried out as the thing bore down on her and swung her hand out towards the thing. Extending from her hand was a thin line of air molecules. This mono molecular whip, the width of just one molecule, cut into the charred flesh of the monster without any effort. In an instant the whip cut through the monster's neck, and for a moment the thing just stopped there motionless. Suddenly, a bright burst of green light erupted from the cut line on the monster's neck, and then the entire thing itself exploded it in a burst of green light. Akane screamed as she was thrown into the air by the shockwave. Before passing out she could see the explosion tear through several homes down at ground level like a small nuclear blast.  
  
"AKANE!"  
  
Ranma pushed against the force of the blast and launched herself into the air with all the strength she could muster. Her mind was still clouded a bit from being sent into a sleep by a shiatsu technique, but her body was used to such attacks and recovered much sooner than she should have. Ranma intercepted Akane as the girl was falling and alighted with her in her arms on the grass of the park. The redhead turned around towards where the monster had been and now saw only a smoldering crater about the size of a large house.  
  
"She'll be fine, she's just exhausted from overdoing her powers." Ranma looked up to see the smiling face of Lady Ambrosia looking down at Akane.  
  
"You could have helped her!" Ranma yelled at her as she held Akane close to her protectively. "And what was all that about me not getting involved!?"  
  
"That 'thing' would have torn you apart before you even had a chance to lay a fist on it, Ranma." the Amazon Weaver explained. "Akane was the only one best equipped to deal with it. And besides, I was with her the entire time, if I thought she was in any real danger I would have stepped in."  
  
"Ok, then answer this," Ranma said angrily, "What the fucking hell was that monster?"  
  
Lady Ambrosia knelt down and touch Ranma's shoulder. "There were some things I have been keeping from the two of you, but now it is necessary that you know the truth." she said. "They are coming much sooner than I had expected."  
  
"What's coming!?" Ranma demanded.  
  
"They have been here before, they bring death with them where ever they go, they fear no one, and they have no respect for life." she said with an expression that set the hairs on the back of Ranma's head on end. "They are the bringers of doom spoken of in our ancient texts, they are an enemy the likes of which you have never faced before Saotome Ranma. They are the Darkness, and they are coming."  
  
***  
  
Akane's eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was the ceiling of her and Ranma's bedroom. Memories of her battle came flooding back and she sat up quickly looking around in alarm. The sight of Ranma, in male form, sleeping in her desk chair next to the bed filled her heart with warmth. He was leaning over onto the bed, his head laying next to her. She reached out and softly ran her fingers through his hair.  
  
"Ranma?" she said softly, hoping he would wake up.  
  
"Let him sleep child, he's had a very trying day." Akane looked to her bedroom door at the smiling Amazon Weaver as she came in carrying a tray.  
  
"He isn't the only one." Akane replied.  
  
"I am proud of you." the old woman said with a smile. "Never before has a Weaver in training accomplished what you have this day."  
  
"Sensei, what was that thing?" Akane asked her.  
  
Lady Ambrosia unfolded the legs on the bottom of the tray and sat it in front of her apprentice. Akane's mouth watered when the smell of Kasumi's wonderful cooking assaulted her nostrils. For some reason she could not understand she was ravenous with hunger and immediately tore into the meal.  
  
"There are some things I have been keeping from the two of you." the old Weaver admitted. "At the time I thought it best that you did not know, but even I did not anticipate that this would happen so soon."  
  
"Was that thing the reason why you're training me?" Akane asked her after taking a long swig of tea.  
  
"That creature is but one of millions that will soon be arriving here." Lady Ambrosia said.  
  
"M-M-Millions?" Akane almost dropped her tea cup when she heard that.  
  
"They are the reason why I am training you." the old Weaver admitted. "They have been here before many times, but in each instance the Weavers were there to stop them. Recently our numbers have been decreasing, we Weavers live longer than most, but we are not immortal, and fewer and fewer children from each generation are being born with the gift. Among my people there are perhaps only five Weavers and three currently in training."  
  
"What are those things?" Akane asked her.  
  
"Their true name is unknown to us, when the Elo'Quin came to teach us the way of the Weaver they called them the Darkness." Lady Ambrosia said. "They come from another reality, they have caused the total destruction of countless civilizations in a countless number of alternate universes. A Darkling, which is what you killed today, is invulnerable to all forms of mundane attack. Only an attack performed while manipulating the Etherium can harm them. That is why Ranma would have been doomed if he attacked it."  
  
Akane looked down at Ranma's sleeping face and softly caressed his skin. "What do they want?" she asked.  
  
"They are vampires." Akane looked up at her in surprise. "Not vampires in the sense that you know. They do not feed upon the blood of the living, and they are not undead. They seek out and feed upon the life essence of living beings. When the Darkness strikes, they have been known to literally drain the very life force from an entire world killing every living thing on the planet form the largest beast to the smallest microbial life form."  
  
"I hit with everything I had, but it still lived." Akane said. "Why is it that cutting off their head is the only way?"  
  
"Darklings are resilient monsters, they can survive literally anything." Lady Ambrosia said. "But cutting off their head disrupts the flow of energy through their bodies and causes a kind of energy loop back effect that builds up energy. Eventually, this enormous mass of energy seeks release, and thus you get the explosion you witnessed when the thing died."  
  
Akane looked at her, "They don't all die like that do they?"  
  
The old Weaver nodded, "I have killed many myself, and they all die like that. The oldest of them known as Ancients die in massive blasts that could destroy many city blocks."  
  
"You fought them before?" Akane asked her.  
  
"Yes, the last time they were here me and my sister Weavers fought them." Lady Ambrosia nodded. "That more than five thousand years ago."  
  
Akane gasped, "How old are you really, sensei?"  
  
"I once went by another name long ago." the old woman admitted. "When my Weaver abilities began to awaken I was among the first to meet the Elo'Quin who came. They taught me and many others among my people the way of the Weaving. After that, I knew that we had to stay together so I aided in establishing the civilization that would come to be know as the Amazons. We would be keepers of the knowledge of Weaving and be the guardians of human kind when the Darkness came."  
  
"What was your name then?" Akane asked her curiously.  
  
Lady Ambrosia looked her in the eye and said, "Shampoo."  
  
Akane's mouth feel open in absolute shock, she looked this old woman over again and tried to imagine her at a much younger age. It was obvious that she had once been incredibly beautiful in her younger years, and still held much of her beauty in the twilight of her days. Slowly, an image began to form in Akane's mind. The vision of Shampoo's face superimposed over Lady Ambrosia, and the two were too much alike to be coincidence.  
  
"H-H-H-How?" Akane asked in a weak voice.  
  
"For now Big Sister, it is not necessary for you to know the how, or the way." the ancient version of Shampoo said. "Know that I am who I say I am, and that it is necessary that you not discuss this with anyone, especially Ranma. You must promise me to keep this a secret."  
  
Akane nodded, "Alright, but Shampoo-"  
  
The elderly Shampoo put her finger to Akane's lips and said, "No more questions today. Be at ease and rest, for we have little time left until the Darkness comes. Our training will intensify starting tomorrow after school. Are you willing to continue?"  
  
Akane nodded. "Good, now eat." Lady Ambrosia/Shampoo told her. She stood up and left the room. Before closing the door she looked back at the youngest Tendo girl who was looking at her with a haunted expression. "Too many revelations in one day, child?" she asked her. "Prepare yourself, Tendo Akane, for this is nothing compared to what is coming."  
  
**********  
  
Coming up in Chapter Four  
  
Akane has had her first encounter with a Darkling and it has become clear that the arrival of a full-scale invasion force is imminent. Lady Ambrosia steps up Akane's training, but a new complication arises to cause trouble. Ranma has the fight of his life on his hands when Kuno and Ryoga join forces with a gang Akane's admirers from Furinken High after someone spreads the news that he and Akane are really married. And what about Ukyo and Kodachi, what will their reacts be? Stay tuned.  
  
Moko Takabisha Bakusai Tenketsu Nyanchiczu Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken Umisenken Yamasenken Joketsuzoku Hiryu Shoten Ha Xi Fang Gao 


	5. Part 4

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty Productions, and Viz Communications.  
  
**********  
  
UPON ETHEREAL WINGS By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
**********  
  
[ ] = Telepathic communication. " " = Spoken communication.  
  
**********  
  
Chapter Four  
  
For the next few days since the Darkling attack Ranma remained immensely protective over Akane. She was finding it a little irritating after a while, she was able to take care of herself after all. Of course, she knew that Ranma was just a little jealous of her abilities just as he had been jealous of her super strength after accidentally eating Happosai's Super Soba. This was something he knew he could do little about, you had to be born with these abilities, and he did not have them. It made him feel more than just a little left out of things knowing this, and he hated how helpless he felt when facing that monster and was unable to fight it.  
  
The training was stepped up, not only Akane's martial arts under Ranma but the use of her new powers under the Amazon Lady Ambrosia. It disturbed Akane somewhat at how exhausted she felt following the battle. She had exerted herself very little during the fight, so could using her powers have drained her so much?  
  
"Actually, I am surprised you stayed awake as long as you did following the battle." said Lady Ambrosia. The three, Ranma, Akane, and the ancient Weaver sat in the dojo.  
  
"Ranma, you noticed something about Akane the day after the fight, tell us what you noticed." she said turning to the pig tailed martial artist.  
  
"I noticed her chi was really low." he said.  
  
"Precisely, although manipulating the deuteriums is not a chi technique, it can drain you of your chi." Lady Ambrosia explained. "Can you tell me what chi is, Ranma?"  
  
"Your essence, your life force." he answered.  
  
"Correct, which means that your chi levels must be brought up Akane if you are to progress in your training, and this is where Ranma can help in this respect." the ancient Weaver explained.  
  
"I-I can?" Ranma pointed at himself.  
  
"Of course, you were trained to bolster your chi and focus it." Lady Ambrosia replied. "This sort of training will be vital for Akane to move to the next level in her training."  
  
"Learning how to do that ain't easy." said Ranma. "I learned from Pop, but I don't think Akane'll appreciate the way he teaches." Akane suppressed a shudder.  
  
"Then teach her the way you think it 'should have' been taught." Lady Ambrosia suggested.  
  
"Breakfast is ready!" Kasumi called the house.  
  
Ranma's stomach promptly growled. "I think we'll resume this after school today." the ancient Amazon said smiling at Ranma who blushed furiously.  
  
*****  
  
Ikari Masuka smiled with satisfaction as she counted the huge wad of Yen in her hand. Her friend's sister, the hacker, came through in record time delivering the information she needed in less then a day. Turns out the girl had hacked into the local municipals database before. The information far more profitable than she could have imagined. Oh how she wished she could see the look on Nabiki's face when she found out about this. There was going to be a new shark loose in the halls of Furinken High School now. With a happy smile she walked down the hallway towards the entrance to change out of her indoor shoes. Masuka came up short when Nabiki stepped out from around the corner of one of the rows of shoe lockers.  
  
There was a look of genuine anger on Nabiki's face. "Well, well, if it isn't the former big shot of Furinken High." said Masuka.  
  
To her sudden surprise Nabiki's hand came up and soundly slapped her across the face. "You bitch!" she spat.  
  
"I see you heard, pretty ingenious of me don't you think?" Masuka grinned as she rubbed her cheek.  
  
"You aren't a big shot, you're just a wannabe." Nabiki told her with contempt in her voice. "You have no idea how much damage your little stunt today is going to cause."  
  
"What, the little tid bit that Ranma and your little sis have been married for almost a month and a half?" Masuka flashed a "I got you now" sort of grin.  
  
"Yes that, do you know how many guys in this school obsess over Akane, not to mention Kuno baby?" Nabiki asked her. "I'm not worried about the regular boys, Ranma and Akane can handle them, but Kuno baby will be a terror now."  
  
"I could spread the news around the it was a clerical error downtown, if I was properly motivated." said Masuka. She cringed when Nabiki grabbed her by the front of her schoolgirl's uniform.  
  
"You're forgetting who you're talking to." she said menacingly. "I perfected the art of blackmail and you're butchering it."  
  
"Kuno baby is absolutely obsessed with my little sister, it used to be amusing but that was before she and Ranma decided they really did love each other." said Nabiki. "He's delusional, out of touch with reality and has an insane hatred for Ranma, he thinks Ranma is some evil sorcerer forcing himself on Akane, and even thinks his 'pig tailed girl' is a separate person. He can't even get it into his head that she and he are the same person though he's seen other people with Josenkyo curses change before. His sister is even worse, she's obsessed with Ranma and has tried using homemade drugs derived from her black roses to get her hands on him. The two of them are deranged and fueled with the information you've so graciously provided half the student body with today they'll be even more dangerous. Not only has your stupid little quest to best me put my brother- in-law in danger, but my little sister too."  
  
"Everyone in school knows that Ranma can handle Kuno." Masuka laughed.  
  
"That was Kuno when he was just angry, now he's likely to be furious, and as unstable as Kuno baby is I can just imagine what he might be planning." said Nabiki.  
  
Nabiki gave Masuka a stare that was full of ice and undisguised loathing. "If this stupid stunt of yours hurts either one of them, I'll destroy you." she said. "You think you're smart, you think you can out do me, I've been at this sort of thing years before you even thought of trying your hand at it. I could crush you, demoralized you, humiliate you like you've never been humiliated before. You want a war, well sister you got a war." With that Nabiki turned and stalked off leaving Masuka feeling as if she's somehow bitten off more than she could chew.  
  
*****  
  
Two certain people had not received news about the leaked information. They were far too busy enjoying each other's company as they walked home from Furinken High. They walked together, Akane hanging on Ranma's arm, after making sure nobody they knew were around to see them. All they needed was for the news to get out and all hell would break loose. It was not that they could not handle it if that happened but it would certainly complicate their lives considerably. Things were already complicated with the revelation that a war was coming, and Ranma felt a little helpless for he knew there was nothing he could do to help Akane when it came.  
  
Akane tried not to think about that right now. She concentrated on her training, which under Lady Ambrosia was intensifying. As promised, she kept the secret that her sensei was an older Shampoo and that she was over five thousand years old. How could that have been? Lady Ambrosia was being tight lipped about most of the other details. Akane was certain that she would tell her when the time was right.  
  
"Ranma? Akane? The word around school is true isn't it!?" came a shout from behind. The two suddenly jumped apart from one another and turned around. Yuka and Sayuri stared back at them with stunned looks on their faces.  
  
"What word, I didn't hear any rumors about me and Ranma" said Akane, feigning indifference.  
  
"You guys 'are' married." Sayuri said.  
  
The two in front of them looked at them with shocked expressions. "Akane, don't tell me your dad finally pressured you into it!" Yuka exclaimed.  
  
"Where did you hear it from?" Akane asked after calming down. Well, it was only a matter of time this happened., she told herself.  
  
"Its all over school, I'm surprised neither of you found out." Sayuri said. "Ikari Masuka was selling the info at lunch time in the cafeteria."  
  
"Masuka? Isn't she that girl trying to muscle in on Nabiki's business?" Ranma asked, his voice betraying immense nervousness.  
  
"Kuno didn't find out did he?" Akane asked. It was too much to hope for, and she knew it.  
  
"You mean you didn't hear him scream?" Yuka looked at her in surprise.  
  
The couple shook their heads. Were they both so concerned about what was going on with the training and everything that they almost tuned the rest of the world out completely. "He ran out of the cafeteria and nobody has seen him all day." Sayuri told them.  
  
That's not a good sign., thought Ranma. "Well, I guess the c-c-c- news is out of the bag." he said, and could not quite bring himself to say the "C" word.  
  
"So, how did you get roped into it, Akane?" Yuka asked her.  
  
Akane smiled and replied, "Ranma asked me to marry him actually." Both girls looked at her with shock then looked at Ranma.  
  
"I knew it!" Yuka cried. "The rumors were true, you guys really are in love! That's so romantic!"  
  
"I figured it would help stop all the craziness going on around us at home with my pop and her dad pushing us to get together all the time." Ranma explained. "Kinda be'in in love with her and stuff helped too."  
  
Akane blushed intensely but smiled. "So all those times you two were arguing and everything, you really were in love but just wouldn't admit it." said Yuka.  
  
"Something like that." said Akane as she looked down at her feet feeling a little more than embarrassed.  
  
Their attention was suddenly shifted down the street as Daiske came running around the corner. "Ranma! Ranma!" he shouted.  
  
"What's up?" Ranma asked him.  
  
"K-K-Kuno!" the teen gasped catching his breath. "Co-co-coming this way!"  
  
"Oh wonderful." Ranma groaned.  
  
"SAOTOME!!!!!" came a cry from somewhere down the street. "WHERE ARE YOU SAOTOME? YOU HAVE RUJN FROM THE VENGENCE OF HEAVEN FOR THE LAST TIME!!!!"  
  
"He sounds really mad." said Yuka.  
  
"You think!" Daiske exclaimed. "The freak has a 'real' sword this time!"  
  
"Ranma?" Akane turned to her husband.  
  
"I can take him, this is my fight." he said, his face set with a mask of determination. "This ends now. Your my wife, and he nor anybody else has the right to say otherwise."  
  
"Oh how romantic, I wish I had a guy to fight over me." Sayuri swooned.  
  
"You sure?" Akane asked Ranma.  
  
"I don't need no special powers to take on that baka." he said.  
  
"Huh?" the three teens looked at him questioningly as Akane blushed furiously.  
  
"SAOTOME RANMA! PREPARE TO MEET THY FINAL END!" the bokken wielding samurai wannabe snarled as he rounded the corner. He had an insane evil gleam in his eye and held a finely crafted and very "real" katana blade in his hands.  
  
"RETURN TO THE HELL FROM WENCE YOU CAME!" Kuno screamed as he lunged at Ranma. The two girls screamed as they leapt out of his way and Akane tackled Daiske to keep him from being cleaved in half.  
  
"Kuno, are you nuts you could have hurt them!" Ranma yelled at him after executing a flip that ended with him standing on the fence that ran along the drainage canal.  
  
"Casualties of war, Saotome." Kuno said, his voice filled with malice. "It is plain to me now that they are in league with you, and thus your enchantments have poisoned their minds. The released for them is your death, or their own."  
  
Oh man, he's really gone off the deep end now., Ranma thought to himself. "Akane, get them outta here, I'll take care of this. Once and for all." Akane nodded and ushered the other teens away who gave no protest.  
  
"Akane is mine, you never had a claim to her Kuno." Ranma said defiantly. "She hates your guts, she never wanted to go out with you, it was just a figment of your twisted little mind. You have no right to choose who she can and cannot fall in love with."  
  
"SILENCE DEMON!" Kuno cried and sliced into the fence with the sword. Ranma went airborne over Kuno's head, flipped twice, then landed lightly in a ready fighting stance.  
  
"Its over, she's my wife, and I ain't let'n nobody take her away from me." he said. "Especially somebody as pathetic as you."  
  
Kuno whirled around on him at a blinding speed and Ranma just leaped over the sword as the blade sang through the air where he had been standing. "THEN LET THIS BE OUR FINAL BATTLE!!!!" Kuno cried. Still in the air from his leap, Ranma lashed out with his foot catching Kuno's head and sending him flying backwards. The boy got back to his feet with a shoe imprint plastered on his face.  
  
Man, he's so out of it he barely felt that kick!, Ranma realized in horror. Time to get serious! Ranma exchanged blows with the boy a few times more but nothing seemed to stop him. Thankfully Ranma's superior speed helped him avoid Kuno's katana blade with relative ease. Moving as if by instinct Ranma raised his hands, focusing his chi....  
  
"Moko-"  
  
"I DON'T THINK SO!" came a shout from the side and Ranma's arms were suddenly wrapped in chains and they were quickly pinned against his body.  
  
"MOUSSE!" Ranma shouted in surprise.  
  
"Long time no see Saotome." the Chinese Amazon boy smirked. "I've been waiting for a day like this. You got a lot to answer for."  
  
Oh great, now I got duck-boy to deal with too., Ranma groaned. "I thought Cologne dragged your feathery ass back to China." he said.  
  
"Because of you I can't ever marry my sweet Shampoo, she's dead to the tribe and can never come back to China!" Mousse growled angrily. "My life is ruined because of you, now I'm being forced to marry that bitch Perfume and its all your fault!"  
  
"It would seem that we both have a similar cause." Kuno said looking up at the myopic martial artist. "May I propose an alliance."  
  
"An alliance to rid the world of Saotome Ranma, count me in." Mousse replied with a wicked grin and drew a nasty looking dagger out of his sleeve.  
  
"Oh give me a break!" Ranma groaned rolling his eyes. As the two came near he quickly bend at the waist resting his head on the ground, then started spinning like a break dancer on the top of his head with his legs flailing out to the sides. Kuno and Mousse were pummeled furiously before being thrown backwards. After coming to a dizzy stop, Ranma leapt back to his feet. A few flexes of his muscles in the right places and the chains around his arms and torso fell away.  
  
"You two are so pathetic its painful." he said shaking his head. His danger sense suddenly flared and by pure instinct born from twelve years of intensive training he leaned to the side. A large bamboo umbrella whistled past and slammed into the ground creating a small crater.  
  
"Ranma prepare to die!" came Ryoga's challenge as he leapt towards him, his fist leading the way.  
  
First the fruit cake, then the duck, and now the pig, man am I getting hungry!, Ranma said to himself. He dodged Ryoga's concrete shattering punch, swung around, and delivered a swift kick to the back of his head sending the rampaging teen to the ground face first.  
  
"Hey P-Chan, what has it been, six, seven months?" Ranma smiled imperiously. "Better not let Akane know you're in town, if you know what I mean."  
  
"Because of you Saotome the woman I love hates me, you're gonna pay!" Ryoga shouted as he picked himself up off of the ground. Kuno and Mouse both recovered at about the same time and started advancing upon their prey.  
  
"Saotome, this travesty of justice will not continue." the insane kendoist raved. "You're unholy marriage to the beauteous Tendo Akane is an abomination unto heaven itself!"  
  
"M-M-Marriage?" Ryoga stammered, his face in shock.  
  
"Yeah, we tied the knot a few weeks ago." Ranma told him casually. "We woulda sent ya an invitation but knowing your lousy sense of direction we'd be back from our honeymoon by the time you showed up."  
  
A look came to Ryoga's eyes at that moment as he turned them towards Ranma. They were the eyes of a man who was about to commit murder. "Y-You married Akane!" Ryoga shouted. "You forced her into it, didn't you!?" He pointed an accusing finger in Ranma's face.  
  
"I love her, I can admit it now, I ain't afraid to say it no more." Ranma explained. "And she loves me."  
  
"LIES!" Kuno screamed and Ranma barely dodged his sword swing.  
  
"So you two wanna kill him too, I can live with that." Ryoga said as he pulled his umbrella out of the ground.  
  
"Where do you think we should bury him?" Mousse asked.  
  
"A cur of his status deserves not to be placed in hallowed earth." Kuno snarled.  
  
"We throw him in a ditch then." Ryoga said and other two nodded.  
  
I don't believe this, they really want to kill me, for real!, Ranma shouted in his mind. "GET HIM!" Ryoga cried and the three charged. Ranma turned and leapt into the air to a nearby rooftop as a dozen shuriken from Mousse struck the wall. The three insane martial artists were on him in seconds swinging sword, umbrella, and a yo-yo with spikes. They came down into the middle of the next street and Ranma went on the offensive. He leapt in between the three lashing out with his legs pegging Mousse and Ryoga hard before delivering a drop kick to the kendoist. They recovered quickly and began to attack again putting Ranma on the defensive. He knew there was going to be only one way to get all of them at the same time. Trying not to look like he was not trying to lead them into it, he began to move in the spiral leading them towards the center and exuding cold chi as his mind shifted into the Soul of Ice.  
  
"SASUKE! NOW!" Kuno shouted out and Ranma suddenly felt something on the back of his neck that felt like a mosquito bite. He reached up and felt something. Ranma looked at it in his hand he realized it was some sort of blow dart.  
  
"HA HA HA! We have you now Saotome Ranma!" the little ninja cheered as he leapt out of a nearby tree.  
  
"Good shot Sasuke!" Kuno shouted in praise.  
  
Ranma grabbed the little man by the front of his tunic and snarled, "What the hell did you shoot me with?"  
  
Sasuke held up the blow gun in his hand and replied, "Its an ancient secret recipe passed down throughout the generations from father to son in my clan. I hope you enjoy it Saotome because we will certainly enjoy what it does to you. Ha ha!" Ranma indeed began to feel something. His arms and legs began to get heavy, it was getting harder and harder for him to move.  
  
"Remind me to increase your food rations for this week, Sasuke." Kuno said with a smile.  
  
"Of course, Master Kuno." the little ninja bowed.  
  
Ranma found it nearly impossible to stand and fell back on his haunches. Try as he might he could not get his legs to respond like they should. "What have you done to me?" he demanded. I can hardly move., he thought to himself.  
  
"Its a fast acting paralysis potion, far more effect than anything Mistress Kodachi ever brews herself." Sasuke grinned at him.  
  
"You mean he can't fight back?" Mousse asked.  
  
"Oh, it lasts several hours." Sasuke told him. "It also paralyzes the vocal cords, so soon he won't even be able to scream."  
  
Ryoga cracked his knuckles, "Lets get this over with."  
  
"WAIT, lets talk this out guy." Ranma said with a friendly smile but was belted into the air by Ryoga's punch. He tried to cry out as he flew through the air and crashed into the roof of another building. Pipes around him ruptured and Ranma was drenched in cold water instantly triggering the change.  
  
"He went this way, see, I bet he landed over there!" she heard Mousse's voice from outside.  
  
Ranma struggled to move her legs and arms, and just managed to get into her hands and knees. Slowly she began to crawl out of the wreckage but it was a struggle with how her limbs felt so heavy. As she was nearing the street she felt strong arms lift her gently into the air.  
  
"Oh my dear pig tailed girl, how I've missed you so!" Kuno waled as she glomped her tightly. "No doubt the vile Saotome is to blame for your ragged appearance."  
  
"No, you and those two losers were trying to kill me." Ranma tried to say but Kuno was squeezing her too tight. That and it was getting hard to speak due to the paralysis potion.  
  
"Fear not my beloved, I shall bestow upon you my loving kiss and all shall be right with the world again." said Kuno and he shifted her in his arms so he could lean down towards her.  
  
Oh shit NO!, Ranma's thoughts screamed. She tried desperately to struggle out of his grip, but Ranma found she could not move anymore. The boy's face loomed over hers for a moment before plunging downward. Ranma's mind exploded as their lips met, he tried with all of his might with all the rage in his heart to fight back but he just could not move at all.  
  
"Oh my beloved pig tailed girl, I shall free you once and for all from the vile enchantment of that wicked sorcerer Saotome." Kuno said after breaking the kiss. He lifted her into his arms and ran down the street. Elsewhere in the area, Mousse and Ryoga tried to find their way over to the demolished building where Ranma landed and were obviously getting nowhere. Kuno did not go far, he leapt with Ranma into a group of bushes and laid her on the ground.  
  
"This is not exactly a suitable place for us to consummate our love, my sweet, but time is of the essence." the boy said as he began to pull off his shirt. With his chest bare he began to work at the wooden fasteners on Ranma's Chinese style shirt.  
  
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, he gonna rape me!!!, Ranma's mind screamed. The paralysis was now effecting her vocal cords so she could not even speak anymore, she could not scream. Kuno suppressed a nosebleed as he folded open the front of Ranma's shirt baring her well formed breasts. He took one into his hand giving it an appreciative squeeze and leaned down and took the other into his mouth.  
  
THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING, THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING, OH KAMI-SAMA SOMEBODY STOP HIM, PLEASE!!!!, Ranma's thoughts cried out desperately, but nobody could hear. Kuno moved to the other breast and began to reach his hand down into the red head's pants. Ranma screamed silently inside her own mind when she felt Kuno's hard erection brush up against her leg. She struggled to move as she felt fingers begin to probe her in a soft warm, wet place down between her legs. Ranma felt hopelessness like she had never felt before, hopelessness and maddening rage that was unlike anything she had ever experienced. As a finger plunged down inside the warm, wet flesh of her nether region something happened. Ranma felt as if the paralysis potion had suddenly worn off, and felt a flash of exhilarating strength suddenly hit her with the force of a freight train. The feeling of being fingered in her loins by Kuno was forgotten, Ranma discovered to her surprise that she could move. That was not all, she could feel things she never felt before. She could feel the molecules of the fabric Kuno's samurai outfit was made of, she could discern the different molecules of the air that flowed around her.  
  
Kuno's eyes went wide as he tried to pull down his pig tailed girl's pants and felt two hands encircle his own. They were the soft, supple hands of his love, perhaps she was trying to help him disrobe her, but though soft as they were they felt like steel bands. Ranma wrenched Kuno's hands away from her body and gave the barest of twists. She smiled as she heard the sound of bone cracking, and Kuno let out a loud scream of pain. The sound drew the attention of the other two, and Mousse soon arrived with Ryoga in tow. They looked at the scene in horror as Kuno lay on top of a hand naked Ranma-chan, and she had just broken both of his arms.  
  
"Don't you dare ever touch me again you-you-you HENTAI!" Ranma screamed and a shock wave of air threw Kuno into the air and knocked Mousse and Ryoga off their feet with the force of a miniature nuclear explosion.  
  
Elsewhere in Nerima, Akane jerked around towards the direction of a sudden surge of power in the distance. It felt familiar to her somehow, she reached out with her mind and touched that power. An image of an enraged Ranma-chan popped into her mind.  
  
"Ranma?" she said in surprise.  
  
"Well, well, isn't this interesting." came Lady Ambrosia's voice to her right. Akane turned to her in surprise and noticed the slight telltale distortion in the air caused by folding space.  
  
"Ranma's in trouble." said Akane but the Weaver put up her hand to stop her.  
  
"He 'was' in trouble, but no longer child." the old woman smiled. "It appears I now have two apprentice Weavers."  
  
Mousse and Ryoga struggled to their feet and looked up at a sight that filled them with horror. Ranma stood in the center of a blasted out crater, Kuno's body flew through the air and repeatedly slammed into a brick wall over and over again. The kendoist soon tumbled to the ground covered in bleeding wounds, then the red head turned her eyes towards the others. What they saw in those eyes terrified both of them. Mousse screamed in terror and lashed out with his hooked chains, but to his horror they suddenly began to glow red, then yellow, and fell to the ground as a molten pool of slag. Ryoga reared back his arm to throw his umbrella but his arm was caught by something hard and rough. He look down in horror as he watched hundreds of tree roots shoots out of the ground around his feet and ensnare him. He tried to move, but the roots held him fast. Mousse saw all this happen and turned to run just as a water hose nearby came to life and sprayed him. The duck quacked in dismay as a rot iron fence nearby dismantled itself and came together forming a cage around him. The joints where the metal touched glowed red for a moment and melted together, then grew cool. Sasuke, watching all of his from the sidelines turned and ran for his life with a look of wild terror on his face.  
  
He never looked back, for if he did he would have seen Ranma stagger forward one step then collapse to the ground.  
  
*****  
  
"Ranma?"  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"Ranma, wake up."  
  
"Huh?" Ranma opened his eyes and sat up. The first thing he realized was that he was male, and that he was in his and Akane's bedroom.  
  
"Are-are you alright?" Akane asked. She was sitting on the bed, a bowl of warm water in her lap and a wet wash cloth in her hand.  
  
"What happened?" asked Ranma.  
  
"You fought Kuno, Ryoga, and Mousse. Remember?" she said.  
  
Ranma seemed to strain to remember for a moment, then a few stray memories flashed before him and he shuddered in revolution. "I got splashed, Sasuke paralyzed me, and Kuno he-he-he..."  
  
"I know, Ryoga and Mousse told me everything." said Akane, there was no disguising the tone of contempt in her voice when she said the lost boy's name. "I knew Kuno was obsessed, but I never imagined he'd try to commit rape." The idea was all the more horrifying for Akane when she realized that it could have easily had been her.  
  
"Where are Mousse and Ryoga?" Ranma asked her.  
  
"Shampoo is holding them both at bonbori point down in the dojo." she said with a smile. "When Mousse saw Lady Ambrosia he knew he was in serious trouble and gave up without a fight."  
  
"Kuno, where is he?" he asked her.  
  
"When me and sensei arrived he was half dead." she told him. "Lady Ambrosia was able to heal his wounds. Sasuke came back and carried him home."  
  
Ranma shuddered and drew his knees up to his chin. "That bastard, he-he-he kissed me, then he started undressing me." he stammered. "He-He-He started sucking on my breasts, then-then-then he reached into my pants-"  
  
"Oh Ranma, its alright, its over, he can't hurt you anymore." Akane said soothingly as she wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"If he ever touches me again I'll kill him!" Ranma snarled in rage.  
  
"Sssshhh! Ranma, you and I know you could never kill someone like that, a monster maybe, but not a regular person." said Akane. "Its just not in you."  
  
"I just feel so-"  
  
"Violated?" said Akane. "A lot of girls who were raped or nearly raped feel the same way."  
  
"But I ain't a girl!" Ranma shouted.  
  
"Hai, I know, but you still have me and a family that loves you to help you." Akane told him as she began to rock him from side to side. "I hate what he did to you, I knew I should have stuck with you."  
  
"I'll be alright, I can get over this." Ranma said, his hands snaked around Akane's waist. She stopped rocking him then looked at him with a curious expression on her face when she felt a pair of hands slowly undo the tie that held her school uniform together in the back. "With a little help." he added smiling sheepishly as Akane's dress began to fall away from her shoulders.  
  
"Hentai." she said softly as that same pair of hands unhooked the clasp on her bra. Ranma said nothing, he just grinned as they slowly laid back on the bed. An hour later Akane lay on his chest, her legs still quivering from several intense orgasms.  
  
"Do you feel better now?" she asked him.  
  
Ranma shifted around putting her beneath him again. Akane's eyes went wide with surprise. "Maybe I need a little more help." he said. She gripped his shoulders tightly and gasped as they renewed their lovemaking for a second time that day. Two hours later Akane collapsed onto Ranma's chest gasping for breath, she did not have the strength to continue even though hopping up and down on top of his manhood felt to incredible.  
  
"I think I feel better now." smiled Ranma.  
  
"Good because I'm exhaustedly." she said. "And sore."  
  
"I didn't hear ya complaining none." Ranma gave her his best Cheshire cat grin.  
  
"Oh you!" she laughed and slapped him playfully on the chest. This prompted a short make-out session before the two finally climbed out of bed, dressed, and headed down to the dojo. Shampoo gave Akane a sheepish grin when the two entered the dojo, her keen hearing easily picked up Akane's screams from the house. Mousse and Ryoga sat in the middle of the floor unmoving. Shampoo looked back at them with a scowl on her face. In both hands she still held her bonbori. Akane noticed for the first time that Nabiki was standing next to the former Amazon.  
  
"About time you two got done conceiving my niece or nephew to come down here." the middle sister said with a mischievous smirk. Akane smiled and look down at the floor blushing from head to toe.  
  
Ranma and Akane were making love?, Ryoga realized in horror as he looked up at the couple. A renewed rage came to him and he started to get back up. WHAM! A bonbori mace was embedded in his head knocking him out cold.  
  
"Shampoo no say stupid pig boy could stand!" his jailer snarled angrily.  
  
Akane stalked up to the lost boy, the faint outline of a mallet began to appear in her clenched fist. "First you betray my trust by posing as my pet pig, and now you tried to help Mousse and Kuno kill Ranma." she said angrily. "Do you have any morals at all?"  
  
"Akane I-I-"  
  
"You love me, is that what you were going to say." she spat. "All the fights between you two had been over me, the attack at the school when you first showed up was because of the curse, and not because of some Bread Feud or Ranma running out on a fight with you. All the times Ranma fought with P-Chan-I-I can't believe how blind to the truth I was all that time."  
  
"It was all his fault!" Ryoga shouted.  
  
Akane poked a finger at him and jabbed him in the forehead. "Maybe up here in your so call brain it was." she snapped. "All the time we ever talked it was Ranma did this and Ranma did that, like everything in your life was his fault. Now you go and do this. It took almost loosing Ranma to make me realize what I had. I still get mad at him sometimes, but I think back to how my life was before he came. I don't want to live like that again."  
  
"Ryoga's sense of logic is rather limited; number one, everything is Ranma's fault, number two, if something goes wrong in his life when Ranma is around refer to rule number one, number three, if something goes wrong in his life and Ranma isn't around refer back to rule number one." said Nabiki with a laugh. Shampoo looked at her a moment with a stunned expression then started to giggle.  
  
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Akane asked Ryoga, her hands on her hips.  
  
"I-I-" he tried to say. Oh Akane, don't look at he with such hate in your eyes., he pleaded in his thoughts.  
  
"You can't even apologize." she said with a sad sigh. "That is really sad, because before today I was going to consider giving you a second chance to be our friend, but I guess this just proves to me you can't be trusted." With that said she just turned away from him and walked over to Ranma and put her arm around his waist.  
  
"As for you, what should we do with you?" Ranma turned to Mousse.  
  
"Make Peking Duck dinner, is too too delicious." Shampoo laughed. Mousse winced and said nothing. Nabiki tried very hard to keep from laughing, and did not do a very good job.  
  
"He said he was be'n force to marry somebody name Perfume." Ranma said to Shampoo.  
  
Shampoo shook her head, "Poor Perfume, she nice Amazon sister to Shampoo."  
  
"It was all the old ghoul's idea." Mousse said, speaking up for the first time.  
  
"If I were Perfume I would be hitting Cologne over the head for suggesting the marriage." came a voice from the dojo entrance. Everyone looked to see Lady Ambrosia enter carrying a tray with several tea cups. A look of terror came to Mousse's face and he turned his head to look down at the ground.  
  
"What is wrong, cousin of mine?" she asked the boy. "Can't look me in the eye."  
  
"Cousin?" Akane, Ranma and Nabiki all said at once.  
  
"Third cousin actually, he's related to one of my daughters from my third marriage." Lady Ambrosia explained. Everyone looked at her with surprise and she said, "When you live as long as we Amazon Weavers live you have two or three relationships over the centuries."  
  
"O-Kay." said Nabiki slowly.  
  
"R-R-Ranma is a Weaver?" Mousse said looking up at her. "Its the only way to explained how he did what he did."  
  
"What's a Weaver?" Ryoga asked him.  
  
"Weavers sow the threads of all that is and all that will be, they are the hands of the Kami." said Mousse, reciting an ancient Amazon poem he learned as a child.  
  
"Ranma does have the Gift, yes." Lady Ambrosia told him. "But, it is Akane who shows the greatest strength. Though Ranma's Gift is not as pronounced as Akane's he makes up for it with his fighting prowess, which combined with the Weaving will make him more powerful than any martial artist who has ever lived or probably will ever live."  
  
"No way." Ryoga gasped, his voice almost a whisper.  
  
"Nobody in their right mind 'ever' challenges a Weaver, most aren't martial artists, but they don't have to be." Mousse explained. "They can kill just by thinking about it."  
  
"We prefer not to use our powers that way, it takes a great deal of responsibility to wield the kind of power we possess." Lady Ambrosia replied. "The two of you are lucky to walk away from this experience in one piece. That Kuno boy was a real mess though, if Akane and I had been late by one minute more he would be dead right now." The two on the floor looked at her in shock then fearfully turned their expressions toward Ranma.  
  
"What we do with them?" Shampoo asked.  
  
"Let them go, its over." said Ranma.  
  
"But they tried to kill you!" Akane exclaimed.  
  
"That ain't really nothing new for them, besides there ain't nothing they can do to us anymore anyway." he replied.  
  
"You hear big brother Ranma, you go and not come back or Shampoo make you suffer." the young ex-Amazon said, lowered her bonbori, and opened the nearest door to the dojo. The two boys slowly walked through the doorway and looked back. They were greeted by several angry, unfriendly face. With a sigh of resignation, or final defeat, the two leapt over the wall of the Tendo compound and vanished into the night.  
  
*****  
  
The next morning Saotome Genma dragged his furry behind out of the pool after being thrown there by his son during their early morning training session. He waddled on his mind paws to the bath, into the wash room, and slid open the door to the bathroom. A blast of steam hit him in the face and when the clouds cleared his eyes went wide at what he saw and heard. Ranma-chan lay on the floor of the bathroom, naked, thrashing around lightly. Another figure, obviously Akane was on her knees, her head was nestle down between Ranma's- "Oooo, you're so right it feels soooo good." the red head moaned, then she looked up.  
  
"DO YOU MIND!?!" Ranma-chan cried. Akane shot up from her "position" with a blush on her face that ran from the shoulders up and was almost so bright she was literally glowing. The panda growled something and was about to bring up his ever-present sign when a fist hit him in the head knocking him backwards and out the doorway.  
  
"Geeze, can't a married couple have some privacy!?" Ranma-chan growled as she closed the door.  
  
The panda held up his sign that read, "Ok, I'm freaked out now."  
  
*****  
  
The couple found the atmosphere at Furinken High School to be a little tense. Students had gathered around the gates and they whispered to one another as te two walked into campus arm in arm. The news obviously spread through the whole school by now, so there was no reason to hide it anymore. Akane was relieved to find Kuno was nowhere to be seen. However, her happy thoughts of having an uneventful day were suddenly shattered when Yuka and Sayuri came running up to them in obvious distress.  
  
"Akane! Ranma! Some of the boys have gotten together, they're going to try and beat up Ranma!" Yuka cried. Behind them Akane could see a group of boys walking towards them, some carrying pipes, bokken, golf clubs, and baseball bats.  
  
"Uh oh." she said.  
  
"Let me do this, I need the practice." said Ranma.  
  
"Don't hurt them too bad, they can't take too much of a beating like Ryoga can." Akane laughed. Yuka and Sayuri looked at them and could not believe how casual they were being, half the jocks at Furinken were out for blood against Ranma and they were acting like it was no big deal at all. Hiroshi and Daiske came running up to see what was happening in time to see Ranma talk between Yuka and Sayuri and face the oncoming wall of angry teenagers.  
  
"We gotta beef with you Saotome!" one of them yelled.  
  
"Yeah, you took Akane away form us!" another shouted.  
  
"And you got them other girls too!" yet another shouted.  
  
"First of all, Akane is my wife now, and I ain't involved with nobody else, and I ain't engaged to nobody else." Ranma told them.  
  
"You're lying, you got that Shampoo as your mistress!" the first boy replied.  
  
"You even got her livin under the same roof!" another boy accused.  
  
A few of the girls standing around started looking towards Ranma with expressions of contempt. Akane noticed quite a few looks of sympathy directed her way from the girls in her class. She decided to step in, she had to defend her husband.  
  
"Where the hell did you hear that from?" Akane demanded.  
  
"Its all over school, everybody knows!" one of the boys yelled.  
  
Across the schoolyard, just close enough so they could hear what was being said. "Three guesses who spread that rumor boss." one of Nabiki's cohorts whispered.  
  
"First it was a war just between us, now its personal, that girl just dug her own grave." Nabiki said with a frown.  
  
"Shampoo can't be Ranma's mistress because she was adopted Ranma's family." Akane explained. "They're brother and sister now." That caused looks of absolute surprise from everyone within earshot.  
  
"What about Kuonji Ukyo!?" a boy demanded.  
  
"She's an old friend, I was engaged to her by my dad but he stole her dowry." Ranma explained. "I didn't even know she was a girl until not long ago. Besides, I love her as a friend, not the way I love Akane." To exemplify this he put his arm around his wife's waist.  
  
"We don't believe you, GET HIM!" another shouted and all hell broke loose. The schoolyard became a huge brawl as the boys surged towards Ranma and Akane. Another group of students who held an unspoken support for the couple surged forward to meet them. Fist flew, teeth were knocked out, sweat, blood, and spittle threw in all directions.  
  
A piercing cry shouted over the din of the roaring battle, "Happo Ho Five Yen Shiatsu!" A bright blast of light cut a swath through the throng of students and all those in its way collapsed instantly.  
  
"Stop this fighting at once you delinquents!" a voluptuous Miss. Hinako demanded. Seeing as how she was being ignored she pointed her hands at another group of fighting students and cried, "Happo Ho No Yen Coin Return!" The blast knocked dozens off their feet and sent a few flying into the air.  
  
Ranma and Akane fought back to back using their ordinary martial arts skills instead of their Weaving abilities. The students they faced had little or no fighting skill at all, so taking them down was all too easy for the two heirs of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. The fight intensified as Miss. Hinako tore into another group of students, and it seemed as if the whole school was now involved in the battle. Akane realized many people could get seriously hurt if it was allowed to continue so she reached within herself and called upon her hidden abilities. The battle suddenly stopped, punches stood still as if he hands of time had been stopped, and in a sense they had been. Akane touched Ranma's arm and he suddenly became alert, his opponent frozen in place.  
  
"We've got to stop this Ranma." she said to him.  
  
"How do ya suggest we do that?" he asked. "This has gotten really ugly. Uh, exactly what did you do anyway?"  
  
"I really wasn't expecting a reaction to us being married to be like this." she admitted. "I froze a pocket of time, just around the schoolyard actually. Any ideas? You're good at thinking on your feet."  
  
"I got one, start time again." he told her. Akane concentrated for a second and the battle was once again in full swing. Ranma leapt up into the air, focused his thoughts on the new source of power he had within himself, and came down delivering a mighty downward punch to the earth. The ground rippled outward like the waves on a pond from the impact knocking Akane onto her rear end and throwing everyone else around them completely off their feet. A sound like the roar of thunder freight trained through the schoolyard and all the windows of the school building shattered as the building shuddered on its foundations. Miles away, an earthquake seismic detector registered a quake in Furinken at six on the Rictor scale.  
  
"Wow." Akane said when it was all over and the students began to slowly climb to their feet, the fight forgotten.  
  
Later that day Ranma and Akane collapsed at the dinning table. Two full cups of tea and a plate of fresh baked cookies sat waiting for them. They both felt physically and emotionally drained from the events of the past few days. Lady Ambrosia came out of the kitchen in one of Kasumi's aprons and sat down across from them.  
  
"I take it today was, interesting." she said.  
  
"You have no idea." said Ranma.  
  
"I got hammered by the girls all day with questions." Akane explained. "I'm just glad I didn't run into Ukyo at all today. She disappeared after the fight this morning."  
  
"Oh man, what if Ucchan hear us this morning?" Ranma asked her.  
  
Akane shrugged, "She probably already knows, and if not she's sure to know now. I'm not really worried about her as a threat though, I'm more worried about Kodachi." Ranma let out a groan at the mention of the Kuno girl's name.  
  
"Well, it was bound to get out about you two." said the Amazon Weaver. "For now we must concentrate on bolstering Akane's chi levels and improve Ranma's control over his abilities."  
  
"How can we tell who is stronger?" asked Ranma.  
  
"Well, as I said the stronger the Weaver the wider their area of effect is." Lady Ambrosia explained. "Akane has a very wide area of effect. She can effect an area the size of Nerima. That is based on her current skill level and chi level, which when improved will change."  
  
"So Ranma may have a small area of effect." said Akane nodding with understanding. "But, he'll have more staying power due because his chi levels are so much higher."  
  
"Exactly, so we will need to do the same exercises with Ranma that you and I did to determine how far out his area of effect is." Lady Ambrosia told her.  
  
"When do we start?" asked Ranma.  
  
The ancient Amazon looked at the two and smiled. "I think maybe tomorrow, you both look too tired to try anything today." she said.  
  
"Good, I'm exhausted." Akane sighed with relief.  
  
"Since there is no school tomorrow we'll start early in the morning." the old woman said, the couple in front of her groaned and wondered if she had been talking to much to a certain panda-man.  
  
**********  
  
Coming up in Chapter Five  
  
Ranma has the Gift too, only not as strong as either of them, but it is there none the less. Just as the dust begins to settle after Ranma's knock-down, drag-out battle royal with Ryoga, Kuno, Mousse, and half the boys at Furinken High School a new crisis hits. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned, and Ukyo is a very scorned woman. She can't have her beloved Ranma honey, but that does not mean she can't get her satisfaction. Even if she had to take it out of Genma's hide, literally! 


	6. Part 5

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty

Productions, and Viz Communications.

"**UPON ETHEREAL WINGS"**

By Michael "TheZorch" Haney

Telepathic communication.

" " Spoken communication.

**Chapter Five**

"Ranma you two timing jackass!" came the cry, and a resounding clang rang throughout the school. Akane held Ranma as he slumped forward, knocked out cold.

"UKYO!" Akane exclaimed in rage.

The youngest of the three Tendo sisters was already not in a very good mood. Everyone it seems was getting in the way of her and Ranma trying to have a semblance of a normal life together. First it was the Baka Brigade, Mousse, Ryoga, and Kuno. Next it was half of the entire male population of Furinken High School, and now it was 'her'. Akane never considered Ukyo a real threat. She would never actually try to kill anyone though she had the opportunity many times to get rid of Akane. The okonomiyaki chef did not have it in her. Despite the fact that her anger got away with her a few times. That was the reason why Akane was not blasting her to atoms at that moment. She wanted to see what the chef would do next.

She was surprised when Ukyo fell to her knees and started crying, "Why, why did you choose her and not me? I'm your cute iinazuke, not 'her'! Why Ranchan, why?"

Akane felt Ranma stir in her arms, and a few seconds later he was up on his own rubbing the huge bump growing on his head. "Oh my head." he groaned.

"Ukyo." Akane sighed sadly as she looked down at the weeping girl. Ranma's eyes became a little more focused and the bump on his head started to fade away. He stood up all the way and turned around to look at his long time childhood friend and onetime iinazuke. There was no way he could feel angry at her, she still should not have hit him like that, but he was sad for her. Sad because her dreams of being his bride were gone, sad because he had to break her heart and did not tell her before hand that he had chosen Akane, and sad that he may have lost his childhood friend.

"Ucchan, listen-" he started to say when Ukyo leapt to her feet and raised her Baker's Peel. Ranma did not move, he just stood there and looked at her as she looked back at him with tears streaking down her face. I wish there had been another way, I should have told her, but at the time we couldn't risk letting the Amazons know., he told himself.

"I don't want to hear it!" she cried with a look of absolute anguish on her face.

"Just listen to him." Akane told her in as calm and compelling a voice as she could muster.

"Listen to what, listen to him say I'm sorry Ukyo for choosing 'you' over me because of that stupid promise to join the schools when he was engaged to 'me' first!" the chef snapped back at her with anger flashing in her eyes aimed right at the young Tendo.

"Don't get mad at Akane or me! It was pop who made this mess by stealing your dad's yatai! Besides, we didn't get married cause of the promise between our dads, I asked her to marry me." Ranma shouted back at her, but calmed down when spoke the last sentence. It would do no good to loose his temper with Ukyo, it would just drive her away out of his life even further than she was now. He did not love her the way she wanted him to, but he still did love her as a friend.

"You p-p-proposed to 'her'?" she repeated not quiet believing what she was hearing and pointed a finger at Akane. The three did not notice yet the crowd of students that had gathered around them. Nabiki stood among them with her subordinates. She was fuming. This was that bitch Masuka's doing. There was going to be hell to pay.

Akane looked around, noticed the audience they had and said, "Maybe we should take this somewhere else." Ranma nodded, reached out at lightning speed and grabbed Ukyo's hand.

"Let me go!" she shouted at him.

"Just hold on a sec." Ranma told her in a tone he hoped would calm her down, then he took Akane's hand with his other hand. A second later, the three of them vanished instantly with a popping sound as the air rushed in to occupy the space they had been standing in.

"WHOA!" came a cry of shock and surprise from the students watching.

**--**

The three appeared on the roof of Furinken High with a sound that was like a thud as the air around them was suddenly displaced. Ukyo, who had been struggling to get free of Ranma's hand, stopped in her tracks and looked around in shock and surprise. Wasn't I just in the hallway near the shoe lockers?, she asked herself. She looked around and sure enough was on the roof of the school. Ukyo for the life of her could not remember leaving the building.

"Ucchan, please, I didn't wanna hurt your feelings or anything. We couldn't let anyone outside the family know because of Cologne and the Kunos." Ranma said in a pleading tone.

She wrenched her arm free of his grasp and shouted, "Is that supposed to make me feel better!?"

"No." he replied sincerely.

"Ukyo, we should have told you earlier. We didn't expect anything like this to happen and for you to find out this way." Akane told her sympathetically.

The chef turned away from the couple angrily. "You're damn right you should have told me instead of me hearing it from people gossiping in class."

"Just tell me this, are you two really in love?" she looked back at them and asked.

There was only one answer Ranma could give her. "Yeah, actually we've been in love for a long time, but we just couldn't admit it to each other until now."

Ukyo wiped the tears from her eyes before turning back to look at them. Akane was showing no signs of her old behavior anymore. She was actually standing a bit between her and Ranma as if she were trying to be protective over him. They were standing close together. His arm was around Akane's waist and she was not belting him one.

"What made you guys changed your minds about each other?" she asked them, she figured she had a right to know why her future was now destroyed bitterly.

The couple looked at one another for a moment, a silent message seemed to cross between them then Akane spoke. "You don't know, that's right, you didn't know about Herb." she said.

"Herb?" Ukyo said questioningly. She never heard that name before.

"A few months ago these guys from China came to the Nekohauten. They were from the Musk Dynasty or something like that. They took wives who were animals they fought and were changed into girls at Josenkyo so their kids would have the powers of animals or something like that." Ranma explained to her. "Herb was a prince of their people. They had this ladle that could lock people in their cursed forms, he locked me after he tried to hurt Akane, then me, Ryoga, and Mousse when after him. He was looking for a kettle that could undo the lock cause he was locked in his cursed for too."

"Do you remember hearing about a mountain collapsing a few months ago?" Akane asked Ukyo. The chef nodded, she did hear about that happening. It was close to her family's ancestral home. "That happened because of the fight between Herb and Ranma."

Ranma brought down a mountain while fighting somebody? It was that intense a fight? "He was missing for a few weeks and I saw so scared that I'd never see him again." Akane went on. "When he finally came home I couldn't hold it in anymore and I told him how I really felt."

"I didn't even know any of this had happened." Ukyo said in stunned surprise. No wonder they got so close so fast., she told herself.

"The other day Kuno, Mousse and Ryoga tried to kill Ranma." Akane told her. Ukyo looked up at her, a wave of rage crossed the chef's face. She was going to personally make the lives of three baka very miserable.

"And you know what happened this morning. It was caused by this girl who's been competing with Nabiki." Ranma explained.

Ukyo sighed and looked away. "I know her, Ikari Masuka. She thinks her shit don't stink and loves to remind you of that every chance she gets."

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked up into Ranma's soft blue eyes. Ukyo could get lost in those beautiful blue orbs. "Ucchan, please don't hate me. I should have handled this better, Akane and I should have told you what was happening, but we didn't wanna take the chance of the Kunos or the Amazons finding out." he told her in a pleading voice.

"Why don't you love me Ranchan, why?" she asked, tears started to fall down her face again. Her shoulders start to shake as sobs wracked her body.

"I do, but not like that. Ucchan we're been friends for a long time. I care about you, but I just could never think of you that way. I'm sorry." he admitted to her. She fell towards him and Ranma wrapped her up in his arms and held her as she cried. Akane said nothing and did not make a move to separate them. Ranma waited until Ukyo was finished before letting her go, but he kept his hands gently on her shoulders.

"Can we still be friends, please?" he pleaded with her softly. She nodded as she wiped her eyes. Akane took a tissue out of the little purse she carried and handed it to her.

"Thanks sugar." Ukyo said as she took it and wiped her eyes.

"Can I ask a question?" she asked the two of them.

"Sure." the couple replied in unison.

"How did we suddenly get up on the roof of the school?"

**--**

School was all but forgotten. The three did not want to be anywhere near Furinken High at the moment so the decision to ditch class for a day was not a hard one to make. The next few hours were the most astonishing moments in Ukyo's entire life. She watched as Akane and Ranma performed some of the most amazing tricks she had ever seen. At first she wondered if Ranma had finally started teaching Akane seriously, but some of the things she was doing were impossible to do using just martial arts. They were sitting at the edge of the canal that ran through the area separating Nerima from Furinken.

Ukyo watched in fascination as Akane made spheres of water rise out of the canal and fly around he head. Ranma stepped into and through the concrete footings holding up the train bridge that ran over canal without breaking them apart. Akane picked up an old can and it reshaped itself into the form of an origami bird right before her eyes. Ranma did other things like walking on the surface of the water without his feet getting wet and making sculptures made of water appear on the surface of the canal.

"H-H-How are you guys doing all that stuff?" Ukyo finally asked when the two were done and took a bow.

"Its kinda complicated. Ya gotta be born with the ability, but I gotta tell ya this we ain't what we used to be no more because of it." Ranma explained.

"An Amazon named Ambrosia is teaching us how to control these abilities we have. She has these powers too and she calls it Weaving." Akane added.

Ukyo's head tilted to the side and she said, "Weaving?"

"The best way to describe it is this, the building blocks of space and time are held together by a power that acts like a glue. There are people like me and Ranma who have the power to make this power do things, and thus in making it do things we can changed reality." Akane explained.

"That's the short version." Ranma added quickly.

"Ah my Kami-sama." Ukyo breathed, almost too stunned for words.

"Akane had these powers first, mine didn't wake up until those three blockheads tried to bump me off yesterday." Ranma explained to her.

He looked down at the ground and said, "Actually, it happened when Kuno tried to rape me when I was in my girl form."

Ukyo jumped her to feet and screamed, "HE TRIED TO DO WHAT!?" Akane rushed to her side. The chef was breathing heavily with a murderous look in her eyes, baker's peel ready to flatten a certain wannabe samurai.

"Its ok, he won't be bothering us again for a while if ever again." Akane told her trying to calm the enraged girl down.

"I knew that baka was deranged but I never thought he would try to rape somebody." Ukyo said after calming herself down and sitting back down. The thought of Kuno with his hands all over her body made the girl's flesh crawl. It say a lot about his personality, if he could do that to Ranma he could do that to anyone. Ukyo suddenly realized that the boy was much more dangerous than she had suspected.

"That toad Sasuke got me with a paralysis dart, that's how Kuno was able to get me in that position without me belting him one." said Ranma with a shiver of revulsion ran down his back as he remembered the feeling of the man's lips and hands on his/her body.

She looked up at him with a expression of sympathy. "You poor thing. He didn't get too far did he, sugar?"

Ranma shook his head. "All he got to do was feel me up and-ugh-man just thinking about it makes me wanna puke." He quickly turned to the canal and started making retching noises.

"I'd feel the same way." she replied watching him sadly.

"Kuno and all the others can't hurt us anymore. Not Cologne, not Mousse, and definitely not Ryoga. The little hentai pig." Akane said. When she spoke Ryoga's name she spat and shivered with revulsion.

"So you know he's P-Chan, huh?" Ukyo said with a smirk.

Akane replied, "Did everyone know about this except for me? I haven't ran into a single person who didn't know expect for Yuka and Sayuri."

"Its against the Bushido code to reveal someone's weaknesses to another." Ukyo told her with a shrug of her shoulders.

"So Ranma tells me." Akane replied eying her husband who was washing his face in the canal making sure not to use too much to trigger his change.

"Hey, sugar, you said an Amazon was teaching you but Cologne wasn't a problem anymore. What happened besides you two turning into superheros?" Ukyo asked her.

Ranma walked over and laughed, "We ain't superheros." Although he had to admit Akane would look very good in tights. The thought made his heart skip a beat for a second, it looked like they were not going to get any sleep tonight, again. Of course, Akane would not mind in the least. After they married the girl took to love making like a fish to water.

"Shampoo tried to make Ranma hers by using a magical comb that would make him do what she told him to do. She tried to make Ranma strangle me, but he fought its control." Akane explained to a wide eyed Ukyo.

"Oh shit. There's a lot more to all of this that happened than I thought." she said. She turned to Ranma and asked, "What's this I hear about Shampoo living at the Tendo place. Rumors this morning said she was your mistress or something."

Ranma put his face in his hands and shook his head. "That damn Masuka. I adopted Shampoo as my sister cause Cologne said she'd probably face execution by her people for not winning me as her husband, so I convinced the old ghoul to banish her to Japan and tell her people Shampoo died in battle against me."

Ukyo's expression softened. "You were always a big softy for us girls."

"The last major problem now is Kodachi. She's gonna know by now me and Akane tied the knot." he said with some dread in his voice.

"She won't be a problem." Akane reassured him.

**--**

Sasuke, the loyal retainer of the Kuno clan and sort-of ninja warrior, nearly fell from his perch on the roof of the main building when a piercing scream echoed from below and cross the entire estate. He caught himself before he went over the side and looked down to see one of his charges, Kodachi, run out into the middle of the yard in he leotard. She screamed in righteous fury as her ribbon flashed destroying nearly every stone and concrete ornament in the yard.

"Mistress Kuno, please stop!" Sasuke pleaded when he leapt down and stood in front of the enraged gymnast.

"I will not stand for it! My beloved Ranma forced to marry that dreadful Tendo girl, I cannot allow this to continue!" she screamed in fury.

Sasuke's eyebrow did a Spock Maneuver. "Miss. Tendo and Saotome Ranma have married?" It was the first time he had heard about it. When did that happen? After the battle the other day he did not stick around to hear all that was said. The sight of a glowing Ranma making tree roots do her bidding had been way too frightening for the little ninja.

"Ranma my darling, I swear on my name as a Kuno that I shall free thee from the clutches of that vile Tendo Akane!" Kodachi cried towards the heavens.

**--**

The day was still early, Ukyo had no desire to go back home for a while, she knew Konatsu could easily handle the shop now without much problem. The three of them, herself, Ranma and Akane arrived at the Tendo dojo. They all knew they were likely going to hear it from the fathers about skipping out on school, but they really did not care at the moment. Besides, Genma would have a great deal more to worry about soon enough.

CLANG!

The sound of steel hitting a hollow, brainless Panda over the head echoed throughout the Tendo home. Ukyo stood over the semi-unconscious Panda-Man and just smiled at her handiwork. She looked up at Ranma and Akane who only flashed her smiles of approval.

"You big furry jackass, you've made my life hell for the past ten years!" Ukyo yelled after Ranma's transformed father started waking up from his sudden forced nap ala Baker's Peel.

"Growf?" was the only thing the Panda said, he did not hold up any signs.

"Where is my father's Yatai!?" she demanded.

"Oh my, that must be so long ago it is likely he cannot remember." Kasumi, who was coming out of the kitchen to see what the noise was all about, said with a rather slightly broader smile on her face. Ranma and Akane had finally given their parents that they wanted by getting married, but she herself believed the fathers went too far sometimes in their pursuit to get them together. It was about time someone else besides Ranma was on the receiving end of a weapon for once around her home. Kasumi gave her younger sister a wink and went back into the kitchen.

"I don't know where it is? What is this all about?" read the hastily written sign in the Panda's paws.

Ukyo raised her baker's peel threateningly. "Its about you getting Ranma and Akane married behind my back even though you knew my claim is made equally as valid as the agreement to join the schools because you stole my dowry!"

"It was a matter of family honor, you must understand Ms. Kuonji." Tendo Soun spoke up quickly.

"SO, ITS THE SAME THING WITH ME!" Ukyo yelled at him. The normally stoic looking man suddenly broke out in a shower of tears.

"Ya know, Ucchan, you're father said either you have to marry me or you gotta get revenge against me and Pop." Ranma said speaking up.

"But you're innocent Ranchan, you didn't even know I was a girl and your Pops here didn't even tell you about the engagement until years later. So, the only one I gotta get revenge on is the flea bag." she replied turning a menacing eye towards the panda.

"Ranma, don't just stand there help your father!" the panda's sign read as he shook it at Ranma urgently.

Ranma just smiled at him. "Hey, Pops, don't ya always tell me you gotta be a man and fess up to what ya did? Well, its time to practice what ya preach."

"Stand still and take your medicine baka!" Ukyo growled as she swung to clock the panda over the head again, but this time he dodged to the side and her weapon smashed into the tami mat on the floor. On all fours the panda ran out into the yard as a black and white blur. Ukyo growled, flashed her friends a smile, and made chase.

"Ranma, how could you betray your father like that!?" Soun demanded.

"Easy, he's done it to me more times than I can count." he replied.

"Aiya, why Spa...uh...Ukyo chasing father around yard with spatula?" Shampoo asked from the kitchen door.

Ranma smiled at his sister. "Oh, she's just collecting on an old debt, with interest of course."

"That sounds like something I'd say." said Nabiki as she walked into the house from the front door.

"Why are you home so early?" Ranma asked her.

With a very serious look on her face Nabiki went over to the television and turned it on. "I'm surprised you two didn't find out already." she said as she turned it on and changed to the right channel. A chilling scene of the high school in flames surrounded by fire crews and armed police officers appear. A reporter, a very frightened young woman, walked into the scene with her microphone.

"This is the scene at Furinken High School in the Furinken Financial District of Tokyo. As you can see, it is pandemonium at the moment as fire crews try to put out the flames. Witnesses on the scene claim to have seen what could only be described as oni. I am told that there are still students inside the building. Fire crews and rescue workers are coming from all over Tokyo in an effort to save them. A large number of reports of people seeing these strange oni prompted the police to respond to the scene as well. So far there have been...OH MY KAMI-SAMA!" the reported said then screamed as a portion of the school building wall exploded outwards revealing something inside. It clawed it way out of the building trailing tentacles. Ranma and Akane easily recognized what it was, and it made the two of them suddenly pale. A second one just like it came out of the hole right after the first. Gunfire rang out on the television speakers as the cameraman ran closer to getting a better look at the scene.

"W...W...What are those things?" Soun asked.

"Those are Darklings." said Akane.

"Oh my, you mean like that monster you fought sometime ago?" Kasumi asked.

"Come on Akane, those cops'll get creamed by those things if we don't get there!" Ranma exclaimed as he headed for the door.

"Why didn't we sense them?" Akane asked as she raced after him.

Lady Ambrosia was suddenly next to them easily keeping pace with them. "Because, these are Ancients, Darklings that are thousands of years old and have developed techniques to shield their presence from those like us who can detect them." she explained.

"Oh great, now they sneak up on us." Ranma growled with annoyance.

"Only until they get within a certain range, and until you eventually develop your own countermeasures to their stealth technique." Ambrosia replied.

The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance as they neared the school. When they ran out of the house the column of black smoke rising into the sky was unmistakable. The roar of heavy helicopters passed overhead. Akane looked up and recognized the red, white, and blue flag pattern on the aircraft which she guessed were United States Marines transport helicopters from the American naval base near Tokyo.

"The local authorities must have called in assistance via the Household Agency for the Americans to get involved in this." said Ambrosia as the school came into view, or at least what was left of it.

"None of them will live through this if we don't get there!" Akane yelled as she poured on the speed focusing a portion of her power to enhance her speed. The other two did the same thing, Ambrosia whom was an ancient Weaver, and Ranma whom was just learning. They reached the school which was now a battlefield as marines and police opened up with semi and full auto weapons on the two Darklings to no avail. Bodies littered the ground, they were police and soldiers felled by the two monsters. Armed men in the garb of the Home Defense Force also arrived to add assistance, but it was obvious that nothing was stopping the two creatures. The three Weavers, one master, and two students, leapt up and over the gathered fighters and threw themselves at the two Darklings. Gunfire ceased as the men watched the three sail overhead, all three began to glow brightly as drew upon their powers for a massive first strike. A blinding flash of light blinded everyone on the scene as the three unleashed their fury. When the light faded and their vision cleared the police, marines, and Home Defense Force soldiers realized that the battle before them was of a class that was far beyond their capabilities. There was little they could really do at the moment as semi-translucent shield suddenly popped up into existence between them and the monsters.

Ranma, Akane, and Lady Ambrosia squared off against the Darklings whom were now at the bottom of a huge crater their initial blast bug out of the earth. Where the police, soldiers, and Marines failed to even phase these things the older woman and two teenagers seemed to be not only holding their own but were actually winning.

"What do we do, Lieutenant?" a Marine asked his superior as they watched the battle helplessly.

"I don't know, we poured enough lead into those things to kill a hundred bull elephants. I don't know who or what those three people are but I'm glad they're on our side." the ranking Marine replied.

"I am afraid it is worse. We just received a report of three more of these creatures in the Juuban district." said a Police Sargent.

"God help us." said the Marine as he turned back to the unbelievable battle playing out before him.

**To be continued...**

**Coming up in Chapter Six**

It has begun. A group of Darklings arrive in Japan and begin cutting a swath of destruction across the land. Only Ranma and Akane can stand against them, but when all seems almost lost an unexpected ally arrive to help even the odds. Part 1 of the "**The Visitor**" side story to "**The Dark Lord of Jurai 2**", which is coming soon.


	7. Part 6

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty

Productions, and Viz Communications. Tenchi Muyo Ryu-Ohki is the property of Kajishima Masaki and Pioneer. All others are of my own creation.

"**UPON ETHEREAL WINGS"**

By Michael "TheZorch" Haney

Telepathic communication.

" " Spoken communication.

**Chapter Six – The Visitor Part 1**

(The following is also a sneak preview of The Dark Lord of Jurai II – still in the outline phase. This is part 1 of 4.)

Somewhere far far away in another universe...

"Carl Sagan, Carl Sagan, this is the Kamadake II, please respond."

"Terran vessel Carl Sagan, I repeat again, this is the Galaxy Police vessel Kamadake II responding to your distress signal, please respond."

It had originally begun as a standard search and rescue operation for the crew of the highly celebrated Kamadake II. They were the finest vessel in the Galaxy Police fleet, and one of the most highly decorated crews in the history of the organization. The lost vessel was of very high profile, an item of great political importance. The Carl Sagan was Earth's first Faster-Than-Light starship, a masterpiece of Terran engineering coupled with alien FTL technology provided graciously by Professor Washu Quintarin director of the Juraian Academy of Advanced Sciences and chief scientific adviser to Emperor Masaki Tenchi. The vessel played an important role in Terran politics and scientific development. It was only ten years old, constructed two years following the incident at Tokyo Tower and the subsequent induction of Earth into the Galactic Union. The Carl Sagan's crew were made up of the finest and brightest of Earth's astrophysicists, astronomers, engineers, botanists, xenobiologists, geologists, and others from dozens of other fields of advanced sciences.

The ship did not look like a typical vessel to the eyes of Yamada Kiriko or her crew mate/co-wives. The Carl Sagan was built using Human philosophy that in space a ship did not need to be streamlined. The research vessel was blocky, a quarter mile long mass of metal framework housing pressurized modules connected via access tubes. The ship looked primitive to her eyes compared to a ship like the Kamadake II, but then again the Carl Sagan was not designed for combat. It was unarmed save for the external cutting lasers used for taking core samples from asteroids. It had no armor, the vessel was basically a bunch of canister like compartments held together by a metal framework similar to the Terran's International Space Station. The ship did have shields, one of several non-Terran technological innovations the vessel carried. The FTL drive was one of the new models similar to the one inside the Kamadake II. Sub-light propulsion came from four big ion thrusters. Basically the same as the ion thruster of the experimental Deep Space One probe launched by NASA, these models could accelerate the ship a hundred times faster than that early model eliminating the need for traditional rocket engines altogether. It took weeks for Deep Space One to reach top speed with its ion thruster which gently accelerated the tiny vessel, but the engines of the Carl Sagan were of the same class found on other ships throughout the Galactic Union.

"Carl Sagan, this is the Kamadake II responding to your distress call, please respond."

"Ne-chan, you've been at that for an hour. They would have responded by now if they heard us." said Yamada Amane from her console on the bridge.

Yamada Karen, formerly one of the Seto Scouts who constantly seduced Seina during his trips to Jurai, examined the data on her console. "They should be able to hear us now. We're close enough that our transmissions can cut through the interference from the nebula."

Yamada Baruta Ryoko looked at her holographic display of the Carl Sagan and shivered. Of all the places the missing Terran science vessel could have ended up it had to be the most dangerous region in all of known space. The Dead Zone. A void of unstable space littered with thousands of black holes, nebulae, temporal anomaly, and only Tsunami-sama knew what else. As a former space pirate she knew most of this place like the back of her hand. Many times her ship hid within the Dead Zone to escape the Galaxy Police or rival pirate clans. She could literally fly the route to the infamous hidden pirate city with her eyes closed. Her familiarity with the Dead Zone is what made her nervous right now. The Carl Sagan sat on the back door of four of the largest quantum singularities ever recorded by science; Terran and extraterrestrial. As a consequence, the nebula they sat in often experienced some of the most violent cosmic storms ever recorded. One of those storms, one strong enough to rip the frail Terran ship to pieces like a sheet of rice paper in a hurricane was broiling only a light-year away and was approaching very rapidly.

"When will that storm reach this position?" she asked.

Karen punched up the numbers. "About ten hours. Its a force nine storm, I've never seen one that powerful before." Her expression was one of awe and fear. In the face of something like that one had to develop a very healthy respect for the forces of nature.

"I've seen worse." Ryoko replied.

"This is weird, I'm reading low level energy emissions from the ship, but no life signs." said Neela. Captain Yamada Seina moved from his command chair and stood behind his youngest wife. In the years since his joining of the GP the young Seina developed into a very well built and handsome young officer. The same could be said of Neela who was the former spiritual leader of her homeworld. Up until the time she met Seina for the first time she looked like an ordinary ten year old. In truth, she was thousands of years old and was kept young by chemical treatments that prevented her from aging. She was growing up now, though the drugs effected her metabolism in such a way that she aged slowly. Her physical age could easily be mistaken as fifteen or sixteen. That did nothing to diminish the fact that she grew up to be one of the most lovely creatures the young Terran captain ever laid his eyes on.

"We're gonna have to board her then." he said.

Amane immediately switched off her console. "I'll get my gear." She could tell by the look in her captain/husband's eyes that he planned to go over there too. There was usually no arguing with him either. Over the years Seina changed from the sometimes shy, timid little boy they fell in love with and became a man. A man who didn't take crap from anybody, a man they all loved more than life itself.

Seina felt a tiny tug on his trousers and looked own. Fuku looked up at him from the floor with a baleful, almost pleading expression. There were tears in the cabbit's eyes. With a smile Seina picked her up and immediately frowned, the little half-cat half-rabbit creature was shivering.

"Fuku-chan, what's the matter?" he asked her soothingly.

Fuku was the mind of the Kamadake II. Like her big sister Ryu-Ohki she was a creation of Professor Washu. In time she had developed the ability to transform into a child-like form just like her big sis. Everyone on the ship adored her, she was the main control system for the ship, but to the crew of the Kamadake II she was their mascot but most of all a member of their family. They had all come to depend on her, and right now her attitude had Seina and the others very worried.

"You sense something, don't you." he said questioningly.

"Miya." the cabbit nodded.

Amane smiled as she approached. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." The beautiful, blond GP officer scratched the little creature between the ears. Even getting scratched in her sweet spot didn't diminish the dread that Fuku was sensing from the ship only a few hundred meters off their starboard bow.

"Come here." said Neela as she gently took the little creature out of Seina's arms.

"Something's making her nervous, increase the power to the sensors and warn us if you pick up anything strange." Seina told her and she nodded.

"As that storm gets closer the effectiveness of our sensors will diminish pretty fast." she warned him as he and Amane left the bridge. Ryoko went to the weapons control panel and brought it to life. If it became necessary to defend the ship she decided to be ready now.

Seina and Amane were no strangers to spacewalks. Even after all these years going out into the void of space with only a thin suit to protect you still gave Seina a slight case of the willies. Never mind that same suit was stronger than steel, made of a substance that was neither fabric nor metal, and could withstand most energy-class small arms fire. They could have used the boarding tube to access the Carl Sagan, but space pirates tried to ambush and board them by hijacking ships before. The crew learned their lesson after the second takeover attempt and decided to board ships via spacewalks and then use the tube once the ship was secured.

The hatch on the outer hull of the Terran ship was a universal design that allowed it to be connected to a wide variety of different docking mechanisms. The two GP officers reached the hull and attached themselves via their magnetic boots. The artificial gravity on the hull either wasn't working or the ship didn't have any. The hatch control lights were on but didn't respond when Amane tried to open it. Looking down the length of the ship they noted the location of the crew quarters. It was the section of the ship that was rotating in order to produce an effect like gravity. Why they weren't using artificial gravity neither of them understood.

"See if there's a manual override." said Seina. They looked around, the hull of the ship was covered in a layer of accumulated dust from the nebula. Seina found the hand crank that opened the latch and began working it. Slowly the hatch open, there was a spray of dust as a small amount of atmosphere vented into space. They climbed inside and Seina manually shut the hatch from the inside. The inner hatch door opened with the wall panel, it would have been harder to get into the ship if it hadn't.

"We're in." Amane reported into her microphone.

The corridors of the ship were boxy in shape and had recessed lighting along the ceiling and floor. Hand rails ran along both sides of the corridors. A schematic of the interior of the Carl Sagan appeared in Seina and Amane's face plates. With weapons held out in front of them they began to systematic search of the entire vessel. For an advanced star ship it seemed, to Amane's eyes, very primitive but that was only due to its overall design. The ship had been built on Earth using advanced alien technology. No Juraian technology went into building the ship but she recognized many of the systems they passed as having been developed on other worlds. Soon, they reached the main computer. That had been a purely human development, its was a quantum computer. Quantum computers had molecule sized circuitry and operated at speeds there are astronomically higher than those of conventional computers. While Earth had been developing early versions of this kind of technology it wasn't until the free share and exchange of knowledge that happened when Earth joined the Galactic Union did the development of this specific class of computer become possible.

"We found the main computer room. It looks like its still operational. No bodies yet." Seina reported.

They began to move towards the crew quarters section of the ship which was in the ship's middle. As the bulkhead door hatch opened it was immediately apparent that something wasn't right.

"We got blast points. Looks like small arms fire." said Amane when she saw the black scoring on the walls. She tightened the grip on her sidearm and they both moved forward.

Seina whistled, "Looks like they had one hell of a fight too."

Slowly they moved down the main corridor. Hatches to all of the crew quarters lined either sides. They stopped at one, Amane took her position as guard and gave Seina a nod. He triggered the access panel and brought up his own weapon. The girls on the bridge of the Kamadake II jumped when Amane's scream carried over the loudspeakers.

Seina went into the small chamber while Amane leaned against the corridor wall to steady herself. I've seen body strewn battlefields, I've seen bodies floating in space after explosive decompression, and I've seen bodies at crime scenes but never anything like that., she told herself in abject horror and revulsion. The special training holovids weren't quite enough to prepare her for what was in there.

"We found one of the crew." Seina said into his mic. The body was emaciated like it had been mummified and its skin was a dark brown. He'd seen bodies too, more than he really cared to count. It came with the job. In space the a body tended to loose its moisture and become mummified like this one. Those bodies tended to be hard and brittle, requiring forensics staff to handle them with great care, but when Seina touched this body it was still soft. Plus, there was breathable air in this part of the ship, it wasn't in a vacuum.

"Are they alright, do you want me to prepare sickbay?" Kiriko asked and got ready to hurry to her duty.

Seina knelled down next to the corpse and replied, "I doubt that'll help this guy." He reached for his utility belt and took out a tiny scanner the size of a pen. Amane came into the room behind him and watched as her husband/captain scanned the body. She knew exactly what the little device was intended to scan for. She hope with every fiber of her being that it didn't find what it was meant to detect.

"Don't turn green, please not green." Seina said like a mantra as he scanned the emaciated corpse. The pen device beeped and a small green light appeared.

"Fuck me." Amane whispered while not really all that surprised by the reading.

"Kar-chan, open a channel to the Juraian Ministry of Intelligence." Seina ordered. There was a strange tone to his voice. The girls on the bridge looked at one another in surprise. They never contacted the Ministry of Intelligence on Jurai for anything unless ...

"Seina-chan, what's going on over there?" Neela asked. Karen was already hard at work using the array of navigational buoys they dropped on the way into the nebula as one long communications array. Otherwise, their call wouldn't make it past the interference of the nebula.

"The crew is dead." said Amane, though they found only one body so far chances were they would soon be finding more. A lot more.

"Ne-chan, Kiriko-chan goto alert status red, all weapons hot. Ryoko-chan track anything that might be moving out there, if it doesn't identify itself blow it out of the sky." Seina ordered as he stood up and a shiver ran through his body. This was his first encounter with this specific species, he's seen the holovid recordings from Jurai. Tsunami, I hope we're ready for this., he told himself.

"What's happening?" Neela asked, fear now evident in her voice.

"The crew of the Carl Sagan is dead, but it wasn't space pirates." he said looking down at the body.

"It was the Darkness."

It did not take long before another ship came on the scene. It had been three hours since Seina contacted and spoke with Duncan Kurosawa, head of the Ministry of Intelligence on Jurai and the husband to Princess Sasami Jurai. The ship came within visual range of the Kamadake II and parked itself along side. They'd seen this vessel only in holovids. Karen was very excited, she was finally getting to see this specific ship up close. What she wouldn't give for the chance to explore its interior. She'd heard it was magnificent. One of the most advanced vessels in the galaxy next to the Tsunami itself.

"This is the Kryton, we are on station and ready to assist you Kamadake II." came the voice of a young man over the comm. Amane's eyes widened when she heard the voice and recognized the name of the ship. Holy shit, Jurai sent us the BIG GUNS! A momentary flash of light signified the arrival of Darius Quintarin , son of Lord Orrin Quintarin and the infamous intergalactic mega-genius Professor Washu. He was a part of the close knit circle of friends and confidants that surrounded his Imperial Majesty Lord Masaki Tenchi, newly crowned Emperor of Jurai. Darius walked into the room where they found the first crew member and knelled down next to the corpse. Amane was a bit jealous, he was able to teleport into the ship despite the interference from the nebula. While the Kamadake II had teleport technology it wasn't anywhere nearly as advanced as the Kryton's.

"Hey, Seina-kun, Amane-chan. Long time no see." he said as he examine the corpse.

"Darius-kun, nice to see you again." Seina greeted him cheerfully. They were well acquainted with Darius, after all Seina himself was a member of the Royal Family of Jurai due to his link to the first generation tree seed at the heart of the giant mecha he'd found while trying to save Fuku from space pirate.

"I'm surprised they sent you." said Seina. He had expected an entire flotilla a Juraian battleships to arrive. One might think it was overkill, but that is until they realized just how powerful the Kryton was. That one ship alone counted for a hundred Juraian heavy battleships alone.

Darius looked up from his work and replied, "Duncan-kun called Tenchi-kun after you reported in. Tenchi-kun got a hold of okasan and ottosan and they sent me."

"By the way, good call, this guy was killed by a Darkling and not all that long ago either." he added.

Amane raised her weapon and trained it on the open door to the room. "How long ago?" she asked. All GP sidearms and ship weapons had been modified per the specs issues by Washu so they would be effective against Darklings.

"A day I'd guess. It was only a matter of time before we ran into them again." he told her and tapped his wrist communicator. "Kryton, try to cut through the interference of the nebula and scan for any propulsion trails you might be able to find."

"That will be excessively difficult with that ion storm bearing down on us, mi'lord. Not to mention also that this vessel has been drifting for some time." Kryton's somewhat British-like accent came over Darius' wrist comm.

"Do your best." Darius told him. He knew that Kryton's best was way better than what some of the most advanced vessels in the Galactic Union could do to the power of a hundred.

"No propulsion trails detected other than that of the Kamadake II, but I am detecting an anomalous power source bearing 115.258.45 mark 3." Kryton responded.

On the Kamadake II Kiriko glanced at Karen, Ryoko and Neela in alarm. "That's practically on top of us!" she exclaimed. Neela began focusing the ship's sensors in the direction. An image appear on her holographic display, it was faint but she could just make it out.

"What the hell is that?" she asked nobody in particular. Kiriko walked over to her station to have a look.

"Its big, whatever it is." she said. The object looked like a ring, a massive ring hanging the void of space.

"Sire, its an object approximately two hundred kilometers in diameter. Ring shaped. Focusing sensors." the Kryton reported. A few seconds later the ship spoke again and this time in a somewhat surprised voice. "Sire, its a ring portal."

"Nani?" Seina and Amane said questioningly and look at one another.

"Say again?" Darius asked into his wrist comm. Did just hear that right?

"Lord Darius, its a portal, an Elu'Quin dimensional ring portal. Energy signature confirmed, it is Elu'Quin technology." said the ship.

"Out here, in the middle of the Dead Zone?" Darius asked in absolute shock. They knew of evidence that the Elu'Quin had influenced Juraian culture in ancient times but this was the first time they had true hard evidence of their actual presence in this universe. The Elu'Quin were the ancient race from his father's original home dimension who discovered the Etherium. The building blocks of time and space. Using what they knew of the Etherium they advanced cultural and technologically faster than any other civilization. Mastery of the Etherium meant no longer being constrained by the laws of physics. At their peak they inhabited thirty galaxies and several thousand alternate universes before their fall at the hands of the Darkness.

"It is entirely possible that this nebula was not here when the device was in normal operation." said Kryton, which Darius guess would make the thing several million years old.

"Maybe the Carl Sagan detected it and parked here to study it." said Seina.

Darius stood up and said, "That could be. We'd need to check the flight data recorder."

Amane headed out the door. "I know where the computer room is, I'll go check it out." A few hours later they were all back on the bridge of the Kamadake II watching a holovid of the last minutes of the Carl Sagan. To say the effort to defend the ship was a fight was being far to generous. It was a wholesale slaughter. Neela and the other girls held onto Seina with a vice like grip as they watched an army of "things" sucked the crew members of the Terran ship dry one by one. The screams, on Tsunami-sama the screams, Kiriko cried to herself and buried her face in Seina's shoulder. When the video stopped playing there was complete silence.

Darius was the first to break it. "Damn, I'd almost forgotten how vicious those bastard can be." he whispered. Its been 12 years since the Battle of Jurai, since that time they haven't seen any sign of the creatures. They knew there were plenty of survivors from the massive battle, but where they've been hiding themselves has been unknown since then.

Neela was visibly shaking. She'd seen the holovids of the Battle of Jurai, but no amount of training could have prepared her for this level of brutality. "Is that what they're really like?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Darius' expression as hard as the edge of a sword. "I've seen worse, but yeah Ne-chan that's what they're like." Worse indeed, the things took the idea of perversion to new extremes. The things they did to children shouldn't ever happen to any sentient being.

Fuku had been sitting on her pedestal in the middle of the ship's bridge munching a carrot when she looked up and cocked one ear. She began to jump up and down meowing frantically. Red warning lights flashed on and the girls rushed to their action stations.

"Sire! I have several inbound contacts half a light year out on an intercept course with us!" came Kryton's warning over Darius' wrist comm.

"ETA?" Darius asked him.

"Five minutes. Sire, I'm detecting massive Darkling energy signatures." the ship replied in a solemn tone. The color drained from everyone's faces except for Darius himself.

Darius cracked his knuckles and said, "Beam me over. Its time to kick some ass." Its been a long time since he's seen some real action. Space pirates were really bad when it came to dog fighting and Darius one of the best star pilots in the galaxy next to his father.

Somewhere in a more familiar universe ...

It had been one of the hardest, fiercest, meanest most vicious brawls Saotome Ranma had ever lived through. This fight made his battle with Prince Herb look like a bitch slap contest. He hurt all over despite the fact that he had an incredible ability to recover from serious wounds and that he also had the Gift. He and Akane sat on the back of an ambulance while their sensei Lady Ambrosia spoke to someone whom identified themself as a representative from the office of the prime minister. Furinken High was all but gone, all that was left of the school was just a shell of its former self. Fire fighters were busy trying to save what was left and keep the fire from spreading out of the campus and to the residential homes that surrounded it. American Marines and Japanese Home Defense troops were stationed all around the site. Men in white lab coats sifted through the remains of the school picking up debris and putting it into clear plastic bags. Several news crews were nearby all broadcasting live from the scene. Ranma's keen hearing picked up on what one of them said. From the gist of the reporters spiel it looks like they were being seen as national heroes.

He noticed that sometime during the fight a gaggle of young girls dressed in ridiculously short fuku showed up. He never saw them before but he knew of them. They were something called Senshi and they usually hung out around Juban fighting Youma. They took one look at the battle and decided to stay out of it. A tall and rather well put together green haired Senshi had also stood in their way as if to stop them from getting involved.

Ranma heard them now. The blond one was crying because they didn't get to help out, the green haired one who was apparently called Pluto was telling her something about crystals and Tokyo or something like that. He turned his attention to his wife who was having her arm bandaged by a paramedic. Ranma was very proud of his Akane-chan. She not only held her own in that fight but took down two Darklings by herself. They were the smaller younger variety. The one he took on was an Ancient, and it beat the holy hell out of him until he got so pissed off that his rage unleashed a blast that vaporized half of its body. Lady Ambrosia came out of the fight without a single scratch, she dispatched a few of the creatures before coming to Ranma's aid. By the time that happened the fight was pretty much over with. Feeling a presence approaching Ranma looked up to see Lady Ambrosia and a man in a business suit walk up to them.

"This is Kobayashi-san from the Home Office," the ancient Amazon Weaver said in introduction. "He'd like to speak with the two of you if it's alright."

"Sure." Akane said weakly and leaned up against her husband.

"I first want to say that this nation owes a great debt of gratitude to you for what you did today," he began. "In holding off those monsters you bought time for the Americans and our Home Defense troops to evacuate the school saving many lives."

Ranma just shrugged, "A martial artist's duty is to protect those unable to protect themselves."

"You're national heroes, all three of you. That fight was seen on live television all over Asia." Kobayashi told them. Ranma winced a bit, at least Shampoo hadn't been here if the Amazon got wind that she was still alive there would be trouble.

"We're free to go and we've been invited to dinner at the Imperial Palace this weekend." Lady Ambrosia explained.

"Imperial Palace, as in the home of the Emperor?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Face it you two, you're celebrities now." their sensei said with a smile.

Ranma rolled his shoulder and winced visibly. "Man I'm gonna really feel it in the morning."

"Nothing a good hot mineral bath won't fix." said Lady Ambrosia.

The government man gave them both a card and said, "This is my card, I've been assigned as your liaison to the Home Office by the prime minister."

"What's a lesbiwahatits?" Ranma asked not really familiar with the word.

"Liaison, I'm sort of a go between, a messenger between you and the prime minster and the emperor." Kobayashi explained. He pointed towards the group of mini-skirt wearing super heroes and said, "We also keep up a constant dialog with the Sailor Senshi as well. A long time ago we recognized the benefit of keeping an chain of communication going between our office and certain groups who worked for the common good of Japan and Asia."

"That and anyone who went up against youma with conventional weapons usually didn't live long." they turn towards the voice to see the tall, green haired vision of beauty that was known as Sailor Pluto walk up to them.

"Ah, Pluto-san, nice to see you." the government man said with a polite bow.

"Hi Kobi-chan. How's the wife the kids?" Pluto asked.

Kobayashi shrugged, "Just fine, wife's going back to school to finish her degree and the little ones just start high school."

Pluto turned her gaze towards Ranma and Akane. So, she thought to herself, these are the two I saw in the Gates. If what I saw was correct then the coming of Crystal Tokyo isn't far off. Small Lady seemed rather excited when she saw them too. She kept cheering them on calling them great grandma and great grandpa.

"That was rather impressive out there." she said locking eyes with Ranma. Her eyes were like Lady Ambrosia's, they were ancient eyes, eyes that have seen too much.

"I'm not certain what those creatures were, but they certainly weren't youma." she added. She noted that the pigtailed youth was rather cute, beat all to hell but very cute none the less. If she hadn't noticed the wedding ring on his finger and the one on the girl leaning against him she'd consider trying to court him.

"They are called the Darkness." said Lady Ambrosia. Setsuna's face turned pale for a moment before she recovered. By all that is holy, not THEM, she cried out within her mind.

"I see." she said.

"You have no doubt heard of these entities." Lady Ambrosia said to her fixing her with a knowing stare.

"Only that I know they were responsible for the destruction of countless worlds and the extinction of millions of sentient civilizations, and that they are invulnerable to even the most powerful of nuclear weapons." Pluto said and the government man turned white as a sheet.

"But, they're dead now, right?" Kobayashi asked them.

"Just those Darklings. More are coming." Lady Ambrosia explained.

Kobayashi looked like he was about to sick to his stomach. He looked at his watch and said, "I ... I need to be going ... I ... I must report this to the Home Office." He quickly bowed to Pluto and the others before running for his car.

"He's rather excitable but a good man." said Pluto who watched the frightened man leave.

She turned her attention back to the two teenagers and smiled. "We'll have to compare notes one day about these Darklings. Get a good rest, you two have earned it." She gave them a sensual wave with her hand and left to join the other Sailor Senshi not far away.

"That don't sound too bad." said Ranma.

"About what?" Akane asked him, who was feeling a little jealous about how good that green haired girl looked in her outfit.

"Some rest." he said and suddenly looked very tired, almost on the verge of collapse.

Lady Ambrosia turned to the paramedic who had been bandaging Akane and asked, "Would it be possible to drop us off at the Tendo dojo just up the street? I doubt the young man will be able to make the walk home."

The paramedic, a young woman, nodded. She had a wild, horrified look in her eyes. She had been with one of the first medical teams to arrive on the scene and had witnessed the battle first hand. She had also overheard what was said about those very same creatures. She drove them to the Tendo dojo where they were met by the entire family. They'd seen everything on TV. Even Nabiki was crying when they ran out to help the two teens stumble into the house.

Elsewhere in another reality ...

The battle in space was over. The Kamadake II faired well in its first skirmish with Darkling ships. These vessels had been of a new design that Darius hasn't ever seen before, and though they were faster and more maneuverable than any previous Darkling ships they were no match for the Kryton. Like the Kamadake II they relied on ion thrusters for sub-light propulsion. The Kryton was a gravitic ship which moved with the use of a space-time propulsion field. It was able to travel far above the speed of light without suffering from the same time dilation effect which other ships avoided by submerging into subspace. For very long range travel the Kryton could fold space, jumping from one point in space to another instantly. The space-time propulsion field allowed the huge vessel to move with the speed and maneuverability of a fighter while those inside felt no or very little inertia at all.

As the battle progressed the two ships were soon joined by Kimi-Ohki, Washu and Orrin's own private ship. Slightly resembling the Ryu-Ohki, the cabbit ship was one of Washu's latest creations. Though Washu wasn't his biological mother Darius still loved her nonetheless. The Ryu-Ohki herself followed along behind with Kyle Brandon at the helm. The saucy Aussie, virtually almost a clone of Steve Irwin, lived for this sort of thing. He'd been a college exchange student from Australia when he and Ryu-Ohki met. It wasn't long after Jurai announced its presence to the Earth and began the negotiations which lead to the planet joining the Galactic Union. The cabbit girl had gained a mastery of Japanese and English by that time, and the young Aussie had been spellbound by her unearthly beauty. Ryu-Ohki spent nearly all her time now in humanoid form. After only dating a few months they were engaged to marry. Tenchi and the other were a bit reluctant to accept the engagement but Ryu-Ohki explained that she truly loved the man. As a wedding gift Washu slightly modified Ryu-Ohki's DNA to make her genetically compatible with humans. Their rather unorthodox relationship was the catalyst which finally brought the Earth into the Galactic Union.

"The molecular analysis is complete. The object is composed of pure etheralite, the same substance Galea and Kryton are composed of." Washu explained. They were all gathered on the bridge of the Kimi-Ohki.

"There can be no doubt now, its an Elu'Quin artifact. We found dozens of them in my home universe. The Elu'Quin used them to travel back and forth between the different realities they inhabited." said Orrin. He and Washu turned towards a large holographic display hanging in the air before them. Looking back at them from the image was his Imperial Majesty Lord Masaki Tenchi, her Imperial Majesty Lady Masaki Ayeka Empress of Jurai, and her Imperial Majesty Lady Masaki Ryoko Queen of Jurai. In twelve years they aged very little and still looked as young as they had been since they first met one another.

"Any idea on where those Darkling ships came from?" Tenchi asked.

"I analyzed the debris from the ships. They were of an organic design belonging to a race we have only just recently had some contact with in the past three years." the Kryton explained over the comm link.

"The Vorlon?" Ayeka asked with some surprise.

Washu nodded, "They'd been heavily modified by Darkling infestations but yes they were Vorlon ships. No sign of any Vorlon crew members in the debris, its looks like they had control over these vessels for some time."

"Spectral analysis shows these where the same Darklings that killed the crew of the Carl Sagan," Darius explained. "The Kamadake II is towing her back to Earth now. I contacted ambassador Yosho so he can inform the Terran Democratic Union senate."

"The Galaxy Police is now at alert level epsilon and all orbital defense stations over Jurai have been put on alert." said Ryoko. Like Misaki before her she was now the head of security for the royal family. Not that anyone could threaten the trio, royal guards or no royal guards. Picking a fight of them was a death sentence.

"I doubt they'll try a full assault on Jurai, not with all the preparation we've made." Orrin told her.

"Hai, this time we're more than ready for them." said Washu. Indeed they were, with her help as scientific adviser to the crown she and Orrin rebuilt the shattered remains of the Juraian fleet and re-engineered it into one of the most powerful star ship fleets in the known universe. It would take a massive force of Darkling ships to penetrate Juraian space now.

"But, the discovery of this dimensional portal worries me. Before they didn't have access to other dimensions due to the lack of power, but now there's no telling how long they've had control of that thing." said Tenchi. The young emperor of Jurai had taken his post with some reluctance despite Funaho's tutoring. Azusa simply could not continue his duties any long as emperor, his injuries and the damage caused by the dark energy Kagato infected him with were taking their toll. He was told by his royal healers to either step down or his job was going to kill him one day. Tenchi didn't want to see is great grandfather suffer so he agreed with reluctance to accept the crown. Azusa and his wives retired to the Masaki residence on Earth which was now considered diplomatic territory. The shrine his grandfather tended for seven hundred years was now an embassy for the planet Jurai. His father Noboyuki and stepmother Kiyone served as Yosho's ambassadorial assistants. Mihoshi was the head of security, despite some misgivings from the GP, but over time the clumsy blond managed to clean up her act some. She was still a klutz, but she was so much of an airhead anymore. She and Darius were an item once, mostly their relationship involved lots and lots of hot steamy sex. Mihoshi was sleeping with about four guys if the latest gossip from Kiyone on Earth was correct. Darius himself had been involved with a really cute little number from Earth named Hotaro. She'd been raised by lesbian parents and was now a doctor stationed at the Lake of Tranquility Space Port on the moon.

"I can tell you its still very operational, so there is a good likelihood that they've been using it." explained Washu. If the Darkness had somehow established contact with others of its kind in other universes it didn't bode well for them. If the Darkness controlled this portal for years they could very well have a strong foothold in this dimension. We'd never be rid of them!

"Three carriers have arrived and are on station guarding the portal now. If the Darkness tries to take it back they'll have to fight for it." Orrin told them. These ships were a new class of Juraian ship, built pretty much the same way most Juraian vessels are built with a sentient tree as its heart, but using technology developed by Washu they were much more.

Tenchi heaved a heavy sigh, "I can just imagine what the Holy Counsel will say to all of this."

Ayeka didn't like seeing Tenchi in distress, she could feel his frustration coming through the link they shared with one another. Life for them had until this moment been rather peaceful for them. Sure, there had been the occasional intergalactic megalomaniac who tried to cause trouble now and again, but overall life was good for the trio. Their relationship had not changed all that much since the day she and Ryoko decided to set aside their rivalry and accept the fact that Tenchi loved them both. Their link, the Great Bond, which allowed them to feel one another's feelings and know one another's thoughts served to strengthen the love they felt for each other. Knowing one another in a way no other union could possibly allow had the effect of changing Ayeka and Ryoko. Their rule against threesomes got thrown out the window many years ago.

"I can check the memory storage addresses within the ring's main processor to see if its been used recently. Its possible that the last dimensional address used might still be stored there." said Washu.

"Do that please, Washu-chan, we're going to have our jobs cut out for us here on Jurai. A lot of people remember the horrors of the Great War. I don't want to start a panic." said Ayeka. Jurai certainly had a lot of recovering to do after the war was over. The evil twisted minds of the Darkness drove them to perform horrible atrocities. Some on Jurai were just now getting back to a semi-normal life. The ones who suffered the most were children. If there were a way to wipe out the Darkness forever, she certainly wouldn't hesitate to use it.

"I could start by going to Vorlon space and ask them about their missing ships." Darius suggested.

"That might be a good ..." Washu began when she was suddenly cut off by a new voice chiming in on the comm.

"This is the star carrier Yamato, we have multiple inbound boogies at 034.125.448 mark 2! ETA six minutes! They are not responding to hails."

"Kryton." Darius called into this wrist comm.

"I see them. Counting twenty targets, a few are of the same configuration as before but the rest are capital ship class vessels. Massive Darkling energy readings." the ship AI responded.

"Damn, they don't waste much time do they?" Ryoko commented wishing she could be there when the fight started. Her sentiment was shared by her husband and Ayeka who felt her thoughts and feelings through the Great Bond.

"Star carriers Yamato, Macross, and Nadesco this is Special Agent Quintarin, ready action stations! Scramble all alert five combat frames and engage intercept!" Darius said over his wrist comm.

"Understood, all ships going to battle stations and launching combat frames to intercept. Weapons going hot, target ETA five minutes!" came the reply. From the forward view holovid on the bridge Darius could see a swam of small mecha zoom away from the three carriers. They were a new concept for Juraian warships, the star carrier. The combat frames were mecha designed for space, water, sea and air. They moved using gravitic propulsion like the Kryton and thus were able to perform inhuman maneuvers, plus they were developed by Orrin based on mecha designs used by his people.

"Sorry you gotta miss out on the fun." he then said to the trio in the holovid.

A flash of static discharge played across the exterior holovid illuminating the interior of the bridge for a second. "That storm is getting closer." said Orrin.

"If its wreaking havoc with our sensors just imagine what its doing to theirs." his son replied. He waved goodbye to them before disappearing in a flash of white light as he teleported back to the Kryton.

"Eh! What's go'n on? The ships just launched frames and their going flat out like a lizard drink'n!" Darius heard Brandon's call over the comm on Kryton's bridge. The Aussie sat in the control chair on the bridge of the Ryu-Ohki which was parked not far from her sister.

"Check your threat board." Darius told him. Ryu-Ohki displayed the appropriate screen for her husband and the saucy Aussie whistled.

"Cricky. Uh, Sheila, better raise shields love looks like we're about to have company." he breathed.

Darius went to his redesigned control station on the Kryton's bridge. The ship had been given to him by his father as a birthday gift and Kryton had been all too happy to be his new companion. After all, he help in raising the young man after his mother died during the war against the Darkness in their home universe. Darius sent the great ship forward easily catching up with the wings of combat frames which were racing to intercept the incoming fleet.

"All frames maintain intercept formation until within firing range, at that point break and attack." he ordered over the comm.

"Roger." the different wing commanders said in reply.

"This is alpha leader, we have visual sighting!" Darius peered through the thick dust and clouds of the nebula and could just make out a fleet of vessels in the distance.

"Let me and the carriers deal with the capital ships, take out the smaller vessels. Break now!" Darius ordered and the combat frames swarmed over the Darkling ships like angry hornets. With weapons that resembled high tech rifles the mecha opened up on the first of the smaller ships. It didn't even have a chance to fire back before it blossomed into a raging, spherical ball of expanding gas. The other Darkling ships were reacting to the attack, yet as fast as they were they couldn't get a good bead on the small mecha as they zoomed about at incredible speeds.

"Lets get the big one first." Darius said as he turned the Kryton towards the latest of the Darkling capital ships. It was a massive vessel of Vorlon design infested by parasitic Darkling biotechnology. The ship appeared in his targeting display and locked on. Two brightly glowing torpedoes launched form the Kryton racing towards their target. At the last possible second it broke into a dozen small particles each colliding with the massive ship. Bright blossoms of destruction bloomed across its hull ripping the ship open in several places sending atmosphere and pieces of Darkling bodies into space.

"I analyzed their hull configuration, they have a weakness near the aft engine exhaust vent which may render their engines inoperative." Kryton said displaying the data on a holovid.

"Good work, Kryton." Darius thanked the ship AI and pulled the ship into a sharp turn. His maneuver would bring the ship along the hull of the big vessel from the front allow him to do a strafing run along the way. The Kryton didn't get very far when suddenly the vessel lurched to one side and began to spin out of control. Damage indicators on Darius' panel lit up like a Christmas tree all over the ship.

"What the hell was that?"

"Some form of time-space distortion weapon, type unknown. I have hull breaches and explosive decompression on multiple decks, no vital systems damaged. If their aim had been off by three centimeters we wouldn't be having this conversation." the ship replied.

"Son of a bitch, it went right through our shields!" Darius exclaimed checking the sensor logs.

"Our shields and time-space distortion field would have no effect on weapon." Kryton informed him.

Darius called over the comm, "All vessels, take evasive action. They have some new time-space distortion weapon, goes right through your shields!"

"Are you alright?" he heard his mother ask.

"Bruised but not battered, mistress." Kryton replied fervently.

"Darius, you're being targeted!" Ryu-Ohki warned him over the comm. Darius slammed the controls and drove away as a wave of distortion shot through the area the Kryton had just been a second before.

"BASTARDS!" the young prince cried as he rushed the gigantic vessel. The Kryton shook violently as it unloaded everything it had all at once. Brightly shining beams and particles of destruction lanced out and pierced the mighty beast. The explosion tore open the great vessel and kept going until it erupted out the other side. The nose of the giant vessel tipped downwards from Darius' angle and it began to slowly spin out of control. Secondary explosions puff out the hull of the ship like heat blisters, a few blossomed outward. Soon these traversed the entire length of the great ship until like a one giant oozing boil it broke open and became a rather short lived yet bright star in the darkness of space.

"Just like old times." Darius said with a feral smile as he locked onto another ship.

"Hey! Leave some for us!" Orrin called over the comm. The Kimi-Ohki raced in front of the Kryton and cut loose on one of the capital ships in the rear. Several distortion wave beams lanced out from the ship narrowly missing the cabbit ship.

"Uh oh, looks like that wasn't the only one with big teeth." he heard his mother say.

"This is the carrier group, we are in position to fire main guns." came the call from the Yamato.

"All frames clear the field of fire!" Darius ordered and turned the Kryton sharply. When all of the ships were out of the way the carriers charged up. Incredibly bright beams of energy lanced out form the three ships piercing three of the capital ships like giant spears. The massive Vorlon designed vessels where holed and blew themselves apart from the inside blossoming into bright balls of energy. With four of the capital ships down, and most of the smaller vessels being mopped up it looked like this wasn't going to be a very hard fight after all. That all changed when all of a sudden a massive shape loomed out of the thick clouds of the nebula.

"Oh shit!" Darius exclaimed and took immediate evasive action. Three distortion beams lanced out and struck the Yamato dead on. The grand Juraian star carrier survived the hit for all of two seconds before it expanded into a fireball.

"Yamato is down, I repeat Yamato is down! All ships retreat!" Darius ordered.

"What about the portal, we can't abandon our posts?" came a question from the Macross.

"We need to regroup and cover our options, besides that storm is right on top of us." Orrin barked over the comm.

"Roger, carrier group leaving combat zone. All frames return to hangers, Yamato frames route to Nadesco. Engaging FTL." The two remaining carriers turned and immediately jumped out followed by the mecha.

"Time to go." Orrin said look at his wife. Kimi-Ohki did the lightning fast calculations needed for an FTL jump. Before they leapt out of normal space they watched as the Kryton raced past the ring portal. Two of the big capital ships cut loose their beams converging just as they passed through the opening in the great ring. A massive static discharge hit the ring at that very moment triggering the giant device. A vortex formed in the opening pulling the powerful Kryton inward.

"SHIT! Route all power to propulsion field!" Darius shouted as the ship shuddered violently.

"The portal is malfunctioning, we cannot pull out of its influence! Our propulsion fields is attacked to the vortex!" Kryton shouted over the loud squealing of internal systems pushed to their breaking limits. A bright flash erupted from the ring portal and then the Kryton and the vortex were gone.

"NOOOO!" Washu screamed as the Kimi-Ohki and Ryu-Ohki jumped out.

**To be continued...**


	8. Part 7

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty

Productions, and Viz Communications. Tenchi Muyo Ryu-Ohki is the property of Kajishima Masaki and Pioneer. All others are of my own creation.

**oOOOo**

"**UPON ETHEREAL WINGS"**

By Michael "TheZorch" Haney

**oOOOo**

Telepathic communication.

" " Spoken communication.

**oOOOo**

**Special Note**

In memory of the late Steve Erwin I'm keeping the character Kyle Brandon as-is. We should celebrate the life of Steve Erwin rather than mourn his passing. Imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery. Kyle Brandon will be my tribute to a great man who gave so many smiles to the children of the world and who died for a cause that believed in. If only we could all have such bravery and dedication.

**oOOOo**

**Chapter Seven – The Visitor Part 2**

Sunlight streamed in through the bedroom window and right into Ranma's eyes. He groaned and pulled the covers over his head. One of his arms was pinned underneath a soft, warm body laying next to him in the bed. He was used to waking up with Akane next to him now, he didn't wake up in a panic like he did after their first week of marriage. He wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her close. He heard Akane make a gentle sound as she snuggled up against him more comfortably. It had been two days since the brutal battle at Furinken High. Brutal was a kind word, they barely won that fight and there were supposed to be thousands of those monsters on their way to Earth very soon. At least they had time to rest when they went to the royal palace to meet the Japanese royal family. He was surprised at how down to earth they were. He thought that they might try to act like the Kunos, high and mighty, but in truth they were friendly and very curious. The Emperor of Japan was an ordinary guy.

Lady Ambrosia had given explicit instructions to the fathers that Ranma and Akane were not to be disturbed. Nabiki, Kasumi and Shampoo made sure that they obeyed those instructions. A few times Ranma woke to a sound out in the hall. He recognized the hollow ringing sound of a bonbori mace as it hit something hard headed, then the sound of two baka tumbling down the stairs. The noise brought a smile to his lips every time. Even Happosai was behaving himself, but that was because he'd learned to be very afraid of Lady Ambrosia, or to be more accurate he was afraid of what she could do to him despite his martial arts prowess.

"What time is it?" he heard Akane ask sleepily.

Ranma looked over at the clock on the nightstand. "Ten." he replied.

"Ugh. I don't want to get up. I'm still sore all over from the fight." Akane complained as she shifted her position again and leaned into his brace.

Ranma sat up and brought Akane with him. She gave him a rather cute "how could you" look when he said, "Come on, can't sleep all day."

"We still have some of that mineral bath salt Lady Ambrosia gave us the other day?" she asked as she reluctantly allowed her husband to help her stand.

"Yup." Ranma replied. Though she was going to be The One according to Lady Ambrosia she didn't have Ranma's incredible ability to miraculously recover from injury. She was improving though with his help. With a steady arm Ranma helped Akane out into the hall. Shampoo smiled at them as they headed for the stairs. The bubbly Amazon followed them to the bath. He knew what she was going to do, she was going to stand watch outside to keep the fathers away. Did she sleep at all, he wondered. They were going to have to do something special for her as thanks.

Akane winced but sigh as she slid into the hot soothing waters of the furo. It was already filled and the water treated with Lady Ambrosia's special salt mixture. It made the water a little cloudy but it did wonders for your aches and pains. Another good soak in this and Akane was going to feel just fine.

Akane snuggled up against her husband and slowly started to drift off to sleep again. Ranma didn't try to wake her, he put his arm around her to make sure she slip under the water and just let her rest. She deserved it, she did really well in that fight with the Darkness the other day. He was really proud of her. Damn, here they were only just a few weeks married and already things were so different between them. No fights, no mallotings, no jealousy, and no lethal cooking. Between Lady Ambrosia, Shampoo and Kasumi the Tendo family would never suffer food poisoning. Besides, the few times she did make a little something for him he was able to shift around a few molecules here, a few atoms there, and transform it into something a little more edible. Not entirely tasty, but not lethal either. He did often wonder how it was he knew which molecules to change and which atoms to reconstruct. That was advanced physics or so he thought. It was just one of those things he'd been taking for granted since developing these weird powers.

"We gotta do something nice for Shampoo. I think she stayed up all night keeping the baka twins from bugging us." he said while his free hand played with Akane's hair.

"Yeah." Akane drawled sleepily.

"It must be hard on her not being able to see her family ever again. They think she's dead and because of their laws she can't ever go back." he said sadly.

"Yeah." Akane replied.

"You awake?" Ranma asked her.

"Yeah." Akane said.

"Maybe I should turn into a girl then you and me can goto the Kuno mansion and have a threesome with Tatawaki." he said with a playful smirk.

"Yeah." Akane replied. She remained silent for about ten seconds before bursting out of the water. Mallet-sama appeared in her hands for the first time in weeks and her eyes burned with holy rage.

"NANI!!!!"

Ranma grinned from ear to ear and said, "Gotcha!"

Shampoo heard the shout from inside the bath then blushed a bright red when a very different sound started to echo out. Down the hall Soun and Genma were timidly peering around the corner when the sound reached their ears.

"You hear that Tendo?" Genma asked him.

"I sure do Saotome." Soun replied.

They clasped hands and cheered, "Heirs!"

"Oh brother." Nabiki sighed dejectedly as she sipped her morning tea.

**oOOOo**

MAIN PROCESSOR CLUSTER RESTART COMPLETE

REBOOTING PRIMARY OPERATING SYSTEM

LOADING CRITICAL SERVICES INTO CORE MEMORY

LIFE SUPPORT ... STARTED

SENSORS ... STARTED

PROPULSION ... BYPASSING FTL SUBSYSTEM ERROR ... STARTED

DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS ... CRITICAL FAILURE UNABLE TO INITIALIZE

OFFENSIVE SYSTEMS ... CRITICAL FAILURE UNABLE TO INITIALIZE

COMMUNICATIONS ... BYPASSING ERROR IN SUBSPACE ARRAY ... STARTED

AUTOMATED REPAIR SUBSYSTEM CHECK

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE REPORTED IN SEVERAL CRICITAL SYSTEMS

EFFECTED SYSTEMS: SHIELDS, WEAPONS, COMMUNICATIONS, PROPULSION

NANOTECH REPAIR SYSTEMS ENGAGED

TIME TO COMPLETION: 3 MONTHS 22 DAYS

KRYTON AI PRELAUNCH CHECK COMPLETE

BOOTING AI SUBSYSTEMS

The lights flickered on in the partially ruin bridge of the Kryton.

"Lord Darius?" asked a voice with grave concern.

There was a low groan. Kryton's avatar detached itself from a nearby wall and hurried over towards the sound. It lifted a huge piece of ceiling debris up and tossed it aside with ease to reveal Darius Quintarin underneath. The young Satari prince wince when he moved but with Kryton's help was able to stand. His incredible metabolism, inherited from his father, was already working on repairing any injuries he might have. Darius surveyed the damage to the bridge and was amazed that they somehow survived what happened. The place was a wreck.

"Are you injured? Should I prepare med lab?" the ship AI asked with concern.

Darius put up his hands and limped over to a chair that was still intact. "No, I'll be ok in a few minutes. I've been hurt worse than this." he said. "How bad are we hurt?"

"I have multiple hull breaches over several decks, FTL is off line, subspace communications are not functioning, shields are not functioning and weapons are inoperative." Kryton reported.

"Do we at least have standard propulsion?" Darius asked him. If they couldn't move they were in trouble.

"Yes, standard propulsion is operational, mi'lord." Kryton replied.

Darius turned to the nearest console and began tapping out commands. "Where the hell are we? Is this is the Sol System?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Affirmative, however my sensors detect no significant space traffic. No navigational beacon from the Sea of Tranquility lunar base nor any beacon from any earth based space ports." Kryton explained to him in a serious tone.

Darius looked up at the main view screen. It snapped into existence showing a view of the Earth with the moon in the distance. "This is not good." he said.

"Shields and cloaking system are none functional, sire. I advise we move away from the planet so we are not detected." the ship AI suggested. Darius nodded and the ship began to move away from the planet slowly.

"Let me guess, you don't have our dimensional coordinates in memory." Darius guessed as he check another nearby console.

"I'm afraid so, sire. My processor core went off line the instant we entered the event horizon of the portal." Kryton replied, a sad expression on his liquid metal face.

"Fuck," Darius sighed.

It did only take a few minutes for Darius' body to repair itself. He was up and about quickly and started to do a room by room inspection of the ship to find out what needed fixing and what systems could be rerouted where. He was deep within the bowels of the vessel when he came to a room filled with shattered debris. He picked up a piece of material that looked like shattered obsidian. It was black a broken up like shards of glass. Each piece had thousands of small hairline cracks running through them.

"Kryton, tell me this isn't what's left of the FTL drive." he said.

"I'm sorry to say it is, sire. It will take my nanotech repair system three months to regenerate a new one. The material the drive is composed of is difficult to synthesize even with our level of technology." the ship replied.

Darius tossed a piece of shattered FTL drive across the chamber and swore. "Three months is a long time. Its time we don't have." he said.

"I understand sire, but there is no way to speed up the process." Kryton explained.

"Lovely, just lovely." the young prince muttered as he slowly backed out of the chamber. He eventually made it further into the ship. The hanger deck was undamaged. Because the Kryton was larger on the inside then it was on the outside in order to admit ships into the docking bay a portal system was necessary. Darius went to the controls for that system and was happy to find it still in working order.

"At least this still works." he said. The smaller craft in the spacious hanger bay did not have FTL drives except for his private combat frame. It wouldn't have the power needed to move the Kryton to another universe though. Making is way through service tunnels and shafts he returned to the bridge. The planet earth dominated the view from the forward view screen. It was a world his late mother called home though she lived most of her life on Galea with his father. Though he'd already grown to love his new mom Washu he still remembered and cherished the memory of his birth mother.

"This is going to be a very boring three months." he said taking his seat at the helm.

An alarm sounded, Darius was getting tired of alarms and warnings. Casually he waved his hand by the display control and brought up the screen that demanded his attention. "Sire, trace Darkling energy has been detected by my sensors." said the ship's AI.

"Where?" Darius asked sitting up to look at the screen. Sitting on his thumbs for three months really wasn't something he wanted to do. Now, fighting Darklings on the other hand was fun. Loads of boredom killing fun.

"Mid northern hemisphere off the coast of China. To be more specific within the Tokyo suburb of Nerima, Japan." Kryton answered.

"What is it with Japan? No matter what universe we goto that place is worse than the Bermuda Triangle." Darius laughed and zoomed the sensor readout of the main island of Honshu in the forward view screen. Several bright energy spikes appeared on the display. Three in Nerima-ku and ten in the vicinity of Jubaan-ku. The residual Darkling energy was in Nerima. Darius focused the sensors on one of the energy spikes in Jubaan-ku and an image appeared.

"Nice." he said when the image of a tall girl with long black hair appeared on the screen. Her outfit was something out of a teenage romance manga, a sailor style fuku with an unbelievably short skirt which showed off a pair of very impressive legs. Darius guessed her age to be around sixteen, which would make her legal assuming this Japan had similar laws to the ones back home.

He called up images of the other energy spikes. Darius was impressed, the dark haired little girl of fourteen was kind of cute, but fourteen was a little young even for him. Now, the older woman with green hair certainly looked promising. The blond with the meatball hair dongles looked a pretty but after examining her for a bit Darius got the impression she was a ditz. Ok, so Mihoshi was a ditz too but she was a ditz who liked it rough.

"Sire, I do hope you aren't planning what I calculate you may be planning." Kryton said.

Darius looked over at the ship's avatar, pointed to himself and in an innocent voice asked, "Who? Me?"

The avatar put on an expression that looked coy. "Sire, you are exactly like your father was when he was your age. I can read you with relative easy." he said.

Darius smiled, "Well, we are going to be stuck here for three months, and there were Darklings down there. I really, really should investigate." He turned to the image on the screen of all of the girls together fighting some weird looking monster.

"Most definitely." he said licking his lips.

"Just like your father. I suppose talking you out of this will not suffice?" Kryton said.

Darius shook his head and replied, "Not one bit."

Kryton sighed, "Ara."

**oOOOo**

School was never going to be the same again. Lady Ambrosia saw to it that the building was restored back to the way it was before the battle. Even if you looked at it up close you never would have been able to tell that the place had been effectively leveled only three days before. Those students who were uninjured in the attack were able to return. For Ranma and Akane the whispers and stares they got from the students were a bit unnerving. For the better part of the morning everything was quiet but the couple could sense that something was off. When lunchtime came most of the students left the classroom quietly without saying a word. The couple left to have lunch together but immediately began to notice something wasn't right. Nobody was in the school yard or the cafeteria. It was like the entire student body has vanished.

"You don't sensing any Darklings around do you?" Akane asked Ranma.

"No, but I know where the other kids are." he replied.

Akane nodded and said, "The gym."

They ran around the school towards the gym and approached quietly. They could sense it, every student and teacher in the school was in there, but why. Ranma got in front of Akane as he slowly opened the door. Akane put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. He was still a bit sore from their big battle. Inside was total darkness.

"Hey! Why is everyone hiding in there?" Ranma shouted. All he heard in reply was an echo.

"This is starting to creep me out. Why are they doing this?" Akane asked.

"Lets find out." he said as he took her hand, opened the door enough for them to walk through and stepped inside. Beyond was darkness, the light that entered a huge gym came from the door behind them. As they ventured forward the couple whirled around defensively when the door closed behind them, then their world filled with light and sound.

A deafening roar filled the gym as more than four hundred Furinken High students all began to cheer. Ranma and Akane couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on until they turned around. Principle Kuno of all people stood on a stage with a huge banner hanging overhead which read "Hurray For Our Heroes" in big bold Kanji. Akane blushed furiously and held onto Ranma's hand tightly.

"Hey there keiki! Da big kahuna owes ya da big fava for savin da skool! Ya?" the Hawaiian shirt wearing principle shouted into a megaphone.

The kids all screamed in assent and Principle Kuno said, "So we hold'n dis ere party! Hey, wahini lets git dis party started!"

Akane threw her hands to her mouth when someone whom she recognized came up on stage. She had never seen her in person but had always dreamed of doing so for a long time. The woman on stage walked up with a microphone and said, "Ranma, Akane, this song is dedicated to you." The crowd went wild as the lights dimmed and the music started. The song was one of Akane's favorites called "Evolution".

"That's ... that's ... that's ... Ha ... Ha ... Hamasaki Ayumi!" Akane stuttered in shock.

"Ain't she like your favorite singer?" Ranma asked her, also feeling a bit embarrassed by all of this attention.

"Who did all this? I ... I ... I can't believe it was Principle Kuno." Akane asked looking at Ranma who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

Somewhere across town a man at the office of the Prime Minister of Japan sneezed so violently he was knocked out of his chair. Principle Kuno made his way out of the gym to his office. With a huge grin on his face he looked at the substantial check sitting on his desk. It was filled out to the school, though, but at least it meant that he wouldn't have to dig into Kuno clan funds to upgrade the computer lab computers to the new Intel-based iMacs.

A literal crowd of students escorted the honored couple home when it was time for the party to finally wrap up. Ranma and Akane waved good bye to everyone as they left and thank them for the incredible time they had. They were both exhausted, despite being stiff the couple had enjoyed a few slow dances. Kuno was at the party but kept his distance from them. Ranma would often see him directing a scornful look in his direction. Sasuke was running around doing acrobatic ninja stunts and getting cheers from the students. The party was a lot of fun with games, dancing, music by a famous voice actress, and a few very touching speeches by people who knew the couple. It was pretty clear by the end of the day that Ranma and Akane knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were love and respected by everyone at Furinken.

Ranma helped his tired spouse upstairs to the bedroom. They were too wore out and tired to get take a bath. There was no school tomorrow so they could thankfully sleep in. The two slipped out of their clothes, electing to sleep in their underwear, and snuggled up under the covers. As soon as their heads hit the pillows they were both silently snoring away. Lady Ambrosia, however, found it difficult to sleep. For the past day or so she'd been feeling something unusual. It seemed familiar almost but different all at the same time. Whatever it was it was close. She was certain that it wasn't hostile nor was it a Darkling, but it certainly wasn't human either. The ancient Amazon Weaver went out onto the roof of Tendo-ke and look up at the stars. The presence was ... up there ... but try as she might she couldn't fix on it, she couldn't extend the reach of her senses to touch whatever it was that was there. Then, the feeling changed, it was getting closer now, a lot closer. Just as she felt this something drew a bright line across the sky.

It was a reentry burn.

Atmospheric reentry wasn't something the ordinary person went through on a day to day basic but for Darius it was pretty much routine. Gravitic drives like those which were used on the Kryton made reentry burn for large ships a thing of the past, but small craft still created a brief light show when they came down. Darius' combat frame was equipped with the latest in shielding technology fresh from his mother and father's research labs. Though the surrounding air molecules were reaching a temperature of several thousand degrees none of that heat reached the frame.

A combat frame was in a sense a mecha; a robotic vehicle capable of walking, running, and flying. Darius' specially customized one of the stock combat frames used by the new Juraian armed forces. He installed a new sensor array which had twice the range, the new shield system of course, a weapons package which he himself heavily modified to increase their range and power output, and a number of other highly advanced technological enhancements which are highly classified within the Juraian government. The command module was spartan, nearly all of the frame's controls were done via neural link. To Darius' perspective the sensors of the frame where his eyes, ears, and other senses. Its arms and legs were his arms and legs, and everything else "felt" and functioned like they were a part of his body. He could feel the atmosphere's resistance against his shields become stronger which told him he was entering thicker atmosphere. The frame had finally slowed down to a speed where the air resistance no longer generated immense heat. According to his sensors and GPS data he was over the main island of Honshu and approaching Nerima at Mach 4.

Darius' hoped that anyone who saw his entry into the atmosphere would just chalk it up to being just a small meteor. One of the classified systems in his frame made him invisible from terrestrial radar and other more advanced sensors. So he should be undetectable by any civilian and military air traffic radar. It was night time also which also helped because his frame was painted black. During the day another highly classified technology would make his frame invisible to the naked eye. Being a special agent for the Juraian Ministry of Intelligence had its perks.

"You do promise to please check in every few hours, my lord?" Kryton pleaded over the comm.

Darius smirked and replied, "Yes, I'll check in. Nanny."

"Might I remind you sire that we are in an unknown universe on a parallel world which we know nothing about where Darkling energy signatures were detected." the ship A.I. Retorted.

"You know what your problem is Kryton, you got no sense of adventure." Darius told him straight up.

In a tone that seems rather smug the ship A.I. Replied, "I'm programmed to be adjective, to analyze all possible threats and to advise against certain actions which could encounter such threats."

"You were more fun to be around before you were rebuilt." Darius sighed and shook his head.

"My 'nagging' sire is my way of trying to keep you safe. After my unfortunate 'accident' on Earth only certain portions of my main computer core could be resurrected and the rest had to rewritten." Kryton said sounding hurt. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes Darius tended to forget that Kryton was also designed to feel emotion. After the Evil One possessed Kagato's body during the war twelve years ago, he used his immense powers to knock Kryton from the sky. In the great war back home his father defeated the Evil One, but this time around it was Tenchi who saved the day.

"I'm sorry. I won't do anything that might endanger me but I've been up against hordes of Darklings before and I've been on extremely dangerous missions. I can take care of myself down here, I'm not a child anymore, don't fret over me and just concentrate on repairing that fold drive. Ok?" he replied softly.

There was a brief silence then Kryton said, "I am sorry also sire. Your mother was a special person in your father's life. In protecting you I am fulfilling a promise I made that I was unable to fulfill when the time came." Darius had few memories of that time. He was just a child when the Darkness came to Earth. He grew up listening to stories about the heroics of the great war, of all the brave Alliance warriors who gave their lives to protect the Earth and its people. A race of people it turned out were the decedents of the Elu'Quin, much like his father's people the Satari.

"That was a long time ago. Besides, I like killing Darklings so if I find any I'll dedicated their destruction to you and mom." Darius replied beaming a smile.

"Perhaps I am being a bit too much of a mother hen, sire." the ship said.

"Don't stop on my account. Keeps me honest." Darius laughed.

For the first time Darius actually heard the ship laugh, then it said, "Alright, sire. Please report in from time to time, enjoy your 'adventuring' and try not to get into too much trouble down there."

Darius shrugged and asked, "Hey, what could possibly go wrong?"

**oOOOo**

Matriarch Cologne opened her eyes slowly and tried to stand up but her body wouldn't respond. All she could remember from the night before was going to bed after a bit of lite readings. She barely remembered the sound of her front door being smashed in and being roughly pulled out of bed. She tried to fight, knocked away several of her attackers and then felt a prick in her right shoulder. A dart, yes, it had been a dart. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep, she was barely able to remember what the dart looked like. It was of Amazon make. She couldn't remember the faces of those who attacked her but she did remember their voices. They were all women.

"I see you are finally waking up." said a voice to her left. Cologne struggled to turn her head and found herself face to face with one of the elders of the village.

"Am ... ber ... gris," Cologne crocked out with some effort.

"The drug will begin to wear off soon, the first to come back will be your vocal cords, but then you already know that since you are rather familiar with Amazon potions." the elder Ambergris said with a smirk. She was old, almost as old as Cologne, and like the ancient matriarch age had not been very kind to her.

"What ... is ... meaning of this?" Cologne demanded, and as the elder had said it was getting easier to talk but she still couldn't move very well.

The ancient elder leaned down to look into her face and said, "I was about to ask you the same question." She moved out of Cologne's line of sight and to her surprise found the rest of the elder counsel were in attendance.

"Grandson, come forward and tell us what you told me." she heard Ambergris and Mousse walked into view. He looked at her with a satisfied smirk on his face. All of the color drained from Cologne's face when she saw him. She knew why he was here and what he'd told his grandmother Ambergris. It was only a matter for time before this happened, she just wasn't expecting it to happen this soon.

"Matriarch Cologne has lied to us about the death of Shampoo. She failed to secure her husband Saotome Ranma and according to the law had to be punished, but instead the matriarch left her in Japan and told us she'd been killed in battle." said Mousse.

The elder named Sapphire stepped forward and demanded, "Where is your proof? And, why should we accept the word of a male, especially a male whom we all know is obsessed with Cologne's great granddaughter?"

"Mousse came to me a week ago with this news. I took the liberty of dispatching warriors from my clan to Japan to collect evidence to prove or disprove what he said. They returned with these." Ambergris said and dropped a handful of photographs in front of Cologne's face. The ancient Matriarch could see them in the torch light. There was one picture of Shampoo in one of her signature mandarin dresses helping Kasumi hang up the wash. Her great granddaughter had a truly happy smile on her face. It was the first time in a long time the ancient Amazon has seen such a happy, care-free smile on the young girl's face.

"Matriarch, why? Assuming these photos are real, why did you lie to us?" another elder named Satin asked pleadingly.

"I have no excuse other than I did what I did out of love." Cologne replied and said nothing more.

Ambergris got into her face and shouted, "And jeopardized three thousand years of Amazon tradition and law in the process!"

Cologne scowled at her and with titanic effort was able to rise to a sitting position. "What purpose for the tribe would it have served to bring Shampoo back to face a possible death sentence?" Cologne demanded and the ancient elder backed away. She knew Cologne was still under the influence of the powerful drug but she was no fool. There was a reason why Cologne was Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku other than her supreme intellect.

"There was room for other forms of punishment." Ambergris said looking over at her grandson.

The elder's glance at Mousse wasn't lost on ancient matriarch. "That what this is about! You're angry at me because your 'beloved' grandson can't have my great granddaughter!" Cologne shouted accusing the elder.

"Its gone beyond that," Ambergris said. She produced another photo and placed it in front of the matriarch. The picture was of Lady Ambrosia and Tendo Akane engaged in an obvious Weaver training session.

"What is Lady Ambrosia doing instructing an outsider female in our secret Weaving arts?" the elder named Lace demanded angrily. She was one of Ambergris' most staunchest supporters in the counsel. A few other elders looked at one another with looks of chagrin and concern.

Cologne sighed and said, "You all know Lady Ambrosia's independent spirit."

"According to my grandson you knew this was going on." Ambergris accused.

"And I tried to persuade her to come back with me but she refused." Cologne said.

Ambergris put her hands on her hips and said, "But you are the matriarch."

"And she is our greatest Weaver possessing powers far in excess of my own on top of a rebellious spirit which whom has had very little respect for the authority of the elder counsel and my position." Cologne replied, but she didn't tell them anything more than they already knew themselves. Lady Ambrosia's rebelliousness was legendary among the Joketsuzoku.

"Nevertheless, teaching our most sacred secrets to an outsider is the most severe breach of our ancient laws." the elder Lace said.

Cologne sat up, the drug starting to finally wear off, and said, "Ambrosia believes the Tendo girl to be the chosen one spoken of in prophesy. She is convinced the dark time are near."

A hushed gasp of shock filled the room and the elders began to silently whisper to one another. "An outsider, the chosen one! Preposterous!" Ambergris roared in offended outrage.

Cologne sighed and replied, "She also knew how the elder counsel would react to this as well. I could not deny what she said could possibly be true. I witnessed the Tendo girl's power myself."

"Cologne, you of all people should have done more to make Lady Ambrosia return home!" Satin shouted.

Ambergris signaled for quiet and the counsel fell silent. Cologne scowled at her. Since when did the elders listen to "her". Ambergris was from a less prestigious clan and constantly embarrassed over the antics of her grandson and his obsession with Shampoo. Something, she realized, changed and she didn't know it.

"Its become rather obvious that your time spent around that outsider male Saotome Ranma has clouded your judgment." Ambergris said.

Cologne laughed, "And how do you possibly think that?"

"Because the Tendo girl is romantically linked to him, and now she is the one whom Lady Ambrosia is instructing. She was an obstacle to Shampoo fulfilling our sacred laws and your great granddaughter failed. Not only that but now she lives with them!" Ambergris replied.

"So how does Ranma possibly figure into this?" Cologne asked her.

Ambergris smiled and said, "Simple. You are afraid of him. My grandson has relayed to me what happened between Ranma and the Musk's Prince Herb, how the boy defeated the prince in battle." There were sudden murmurs among the elders. It was the first time any of them heard about this at all.

Cologne didn't like what she was heard and stood up. "Are you accusing me of cowardice!" she roared and manifested a battle aura.

"The westerners have a saying, if the shoe fits ..." Ambergris replied with a smirk. Cologne growled with anger and looked like was about to launch herself at the elder but then decided it really wouldn't accomplish anything.

"This all proves nothing. I've had my fill of this, and of you." Cologne said calmly and turned away to leave. To her surprise she found several warriors blocking her path.

"I am still matriarch, it would be unwise to try my patience further." she said in a dangerous tone to the ones directly in front of her.

"Not quite," Ambergris said behind her. Cologne turned around with a questioning look at her.

"When it was discovered that you had lied to us about your great granddaughter and how you'd allowed Lady Ambrosia to give away our most sacred secrets I was able to persuade the counsel to a vote of no confidence." Ambergris told her.

Cologne's mouth fell open in shock then she stormed up to the ancient elder and screamed, "You did what!?"

"I would advise you 'elder' Cologne to speak to the Matriarch with more respect. It would be unwise for 'you' to try 'my' patience any further." Ambergris said with a wide tooth filled grin.

Cologne's anger are barely in check as she said, "How dare you? You question my loyalty to the Joketsuzoku and call me a coward, and what do you do? You drug me in the middle of the night and call an important meeting and a vote without me in attendance to present my own evidence. All are violations of our laws!"

"The ancient laws have no provisions for dealing with something this delicate. I'm sorry Cologne but we have spoken." the elder Lace said calmly.

"You chose 'her'? The elder of a clan that is the laughing stock of the entire tribe!" Cologne demanded pointing at Ambergris.

"Until such time as we can retrieve Lady Ambrosia and your great granddaughter, you elder Cologne are confined to your home. As for the Tendo girl, as the law demands she must be eliminated." Ambergris said in an authoritarian manner.

Cologne sighed and said, "You know now the path you take our people down, Ambergris. You nothing about either Tendo Akane nor Saotome Ranma. You see him as just a mere male, but he is more and if you do indeed succeed in eliminating the Tendo girl you shall unleash an enemy against us which none or our warriors could ever defeat."

"You may overestimate this male's abilities, but I am a realist. There cannot possibly be a male martial artist who is that powerful." Ambergris replied.

Warriors surrounded Cologne to take her to her home. As she was being lead away she said, "Your prejudice shall be your undoing, as it was almost mine."

**oOOOo**

**To be continued ...**


	9. Part 8

_Legal Disclaimer: All the Anime/Manga and non-Anime/Manga characters appearing in this work of fan fiction are owned by their respective copyright and trademark holders. All Rights Reserved._

_Written for fan appreciation only without profit._

_Protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License_

**oOOOo**

Michael "TheZorch" Haney's

"**UPON ETHEREAL WINGS"**

**oOOOo**

Telepathic dialog.

" " Spoken dialog.

**oOOOo**

**Chapter Eight – The Visitor Part 3**

Sailor Moon was tired, her arms felt like lead weights, but a determination burned within her which would not admit failure or defeat. Despite being bone weary and on the verge of collapse she stayed on her feet to encourage the others not to give up. Those who didn't know her civilian identify would never have been able to mistake this valiant warrior of love and justice for that flighty, clumsy, perpetually whining blond eating machine. Yet, when in her alter ego persona, the Sailor suited warrior of the love and justice, Usagi Tsukino had started becoming a different person. Gone was the flighty behavior she was so well known for, gone was the clumsiness, gone was indecisiveness. She was the Princess of the Moon, daughter of Queen Serenity former sovereign ruler of the once great Silver Millennium Empire and the only hope for Earth's future. After facing so many enemies, nearly losing her friends and the man she loved as dearly as life itself the young resurrected Princess became a stronger person. She and her friends faced many dangerous and powerful foes before and survived, and she was determined to see that they lived through this encounter as well no matter the cost. Usagi Tsukino had drawn a line in the sand and Kami-sama help any who dared try and cross it.

Tuxedo Kamen stood at her side, he could see the pain in her face but knew that if he tried to reach out to her to help her stand it would dishearten the other Senshi. The rest of the team were all tired as well. They entered this battle like any other believing that they would be able to prevail as always very quickly. Their latest foe was an evil scientist from the Negaverse who called himself Dr. Z. He was a thin, gray haired old man with yellow eyes and wore a white lab coat. His left eye was artificial, a grotesque construct of science perverted by dark magic. His youma were hideous cybernetic monstrosities which he called Mecha-Youma. With each encounter Dr. Z had arrived with Mecha-Youma of ever increasing complexity, intelligence and power. In each encounter the Senshi were able to either outsmart the demonic cyborgs or overpower them. Today was different, these new Mecha-Youma worked in groups, formed complex attack strategies, possessed the ability to adapt to changes in their enemy's strategy very quickly, and had firepower which was substantially most powerful than before. The battlefield was a city park in the heart of Jubaan-ku where the cyber demons had been draining the energy from people and plants alike.

Essentially, the Sailor Senshi were losing this fight ... badly. To say they were getting their asses handed to them was an understatement.

"Dammit!" Mars yelped as she leapt clear of a series of energy beams being directed her way. The Mecha-Youma were splitting into groups, each trying to keep the Senshi separated from one another. The strategy unfortunately was working.

"Haven't you figured out a weakness to these things yet?!" Mars shouted over her shoulder to Mercury who was rapidly typing on the keyboard of her portable computer.

Mercury shook her head, "I still can't break through their scramblers. I can't get a reading!"

"This isn't good," Tuxedo Kamen said loud enough just for Sailor Moon to hear. A released a rose from his hand disabling the weapons on one Mecha-Youma.

"We ... can't give ... up," the blond leader of the Sailor Senshi stammered as she released another Moon Tiara attack. The magical weapon streaked in and hit one of the Mecha-Youma instantly killing it, but as soon as it fell another emerged from a portal to takes its place.

Uranus and Neptune managed to stay together but had been separated from Saturn during the fighting. They could see their child who they loved so much fighting with everything she had across the park which was their battlefield. The Mecha-Youma they were facing wouldn't let them pass to get to her.

"The princess is weakening, even though she doesn't want to admit it," Uranus said through clenched teeth as she and her soul mate ran to keep the monsters from drawing a deadly bead on them. They were both proud of their princess, no, their queen.

"SATURN!" Uranus whirled around when she heard Neptune scream out their beloved daughter's name. The Senshi of Healing and Destruction had taken a direct hit. Her Silence Wall was weakening and unable to hold back the powerful onslaught from these cybernetic demons. The two Senshi lovers could only watch with horror as the creatures circled the fallen Saturn preparing to finish her off.

It was at that moment hell rained from the sky. A streak of brilliant light descended from above like a bolt of lightning. It struck the spot where Saturn had fallen and from it rose a powerful shockwave that tore the Mecha-Youma to pieces instantly. When the dust cleared the ground all around the point of impact was charred save but for the spot were Saturn had fallen. The beautiful young Senshi was no longer on the ground. She blink-blinked with surprise to find herself in the gentle arms of possibly the handsomest young boy she'd ever seen. Saturn blushed brightly when he finally looked at her and smiled gently.

During his descent towards the Earth the instruments in Darius' frame detected the energy discharges of the battle blow. Homing in on the signal he came across the park where the Sailor Senshi were battling the Mecha-Youma. He had no idea what the things were, he knew they weren't Darklings yet they seemed to possess some attributes about them which were slightly similar. Recognizing the girls as the ones Kryton had detected earlier, the young Satari prince decided to help. The young girl he now held in his arms was a bit younger than he appeared, in truth he was well over one hundred years old, but she was also extremely cute.

"Are you alright?" he asked her softly. He had to admit this girl was really cute. She was a bit young though, he guessed she was maybe fourteen or so, but according the info he garnered from the Internet this world's Japan had similar laws to those back in his home universe. Therefore, she was legal. Darius couldn't afford to focus on that right now, he had these creatures to deal with first.

Saturn could only nod her head and said, "Uh huh." She was captivated by this boy, a boy who looked at her with adoring eyes rather than ridicule and hatred. He was handsome too and only a few young older than she was by the looks of him.

"Hold on tight, this might feel a little weird," Darius warned her. He focused on the site near where the other girls were starting to gather and called upon the special ability acquired from his Satari bloodline, line-of-sight teleportation. To Saturn's perspective the world seemed to stretch and elongate for a brief moment before she felt sudden but brief sensation of acceleration before the world came back into focus. She head the gasps of surprise from the rest of the Senshi who were now right next to her and the boy holder her in his arms.

"Who are you?" Sailor Moon asked as Darius sat Saturn gently on her feet. The young Senshi staggered a bit from the disorientation of the teleport but Darius caught her.

"A friend," he replied and guided Saturn over to her friends who took her into their caring arms. He immediately turned his attention on the cybernetic demons who were even now calculating a new strategy for this sudden change of events.

The Mecha-Youma opened fire again to no avail as Darius' shield suddenly sprang up and blocked the shots with little effort. Mercury's hand flew over the controls of the Mercury computer and when the data from its sensors appeared on the tiny screen her eyes went wide.

"That shield is several thousand magnitudes more powerful than Saturn's Silence Wall!" she exclaimed in shock. Neptune and Uranus took looked at her in surprise. The girls all regarded this strange boy with curious expressions. He said he was a friend, but who was he?

"These things don't seem all that bright," Darius said as the cybernetic demons continued to fired fruitlessly at his shield.

Mars growled, "They were totally kicking our butts a moment ago and you say that they aren't all that bright?! Are you suggesting we couldn't handle them?!" They'd been fighting these things with everything they had and were loosing until this boy shows up and one ups them like this.

"Their intelligence matrix looks like it was designed to deal with only certain classes of enemies," Darius clarified for her. "Namely the nine of you. I watched the fight some before getting involved and observed their attack patterns as well as your fighting strategies. These things appear to have been designed with the sole purpose of fighting the each of you and exploiting any weaknesses you have. When they encounter something outside of their programed parameters they loose their ability to adapt, like they appear to have done right now."

Mercury had hearts in her eyes. "He's right," she said. "They were methodically testing the limits of our powers and fighting abilities learning our patterns and exploiting any weaknesses or deficiencies we might have. We were loosing because they found our weaknesses and were exploiting them."

"So that means?" Sailor Moon asked, not really getting it at all.

Mars sighed heavily and explained, "They were learning how we fight and were figuring out ways to beat us." She was a bit surprised to see the light of understanding appear in the blonde's eyes.

"How do we beat these things then?" Uranus wondered out loud.

Darius replied, "Leave that to me." He lifted his hands towards the horde of creatures in a gesture that seemed almost casual and fired off a single energy blast. Mercury's eyes went wide when she saw the amount of power behind that one blast. The explosion that followed tore a massive hole in the ground and vaporized the whole of the Mecha-Youma forces.

When the dust cleared the monsters were completely gone. Not a single trace of existence was left. No new Mecha-Youma appeared again either.

"Damn that was boring," Darius muttered. "Didn't even put up a good fight at all. To think they had abilities similar to the Darkness. Yeah, right."

Everyone's eyes went wide when they heard that. They all knew about the Darkness after Pluto explained everything to them. Normally the Senshi of Time wasn't all that forthcoming with information, but on this subject she made certain that they knew everything that they needed to know. What they knew told them it was best to leave those things alone.

"You know about the Darkness?" Jupiter asked him. Getting a good look at his face she had to admit he did indeed look a lot like her old sempai.

Darius nodded, "Yeah, my dad taught me how to fight them. I lost count of how many I've killed over the centuries."

"Centuries?!" the inner Senshi and Saturn all yelled at once.

"You are a very long way from home," the new voice drew Darius attention towards another magical girl who apparently just showed up. She was older than the rest but still very beautiful. He hair was long and green. In her hands she carried a long staff which was topped with an ornament shaped like a key.

"No shit," Darius replied scratching the back of his head. "And you would be?"

"Sailor Pluto," Pluto introduced herself and offer the young man her hand. He shook it a gentle friendly manner.

"Thank you for helping my friends," Pluto said with a bow. The girls all gaped at her. They never saw Pluto act this way before, that and she wore that infuriating "I know something you don't know and I'm not telling" smile on her face.

Darius smiled, "No problem, killing the bad guys is something I do for my day job." Tuxedo Kamen wore a slight smirk, he was starting to like this kid. Saturn was on her feet now and came over to the boy.

"Thank you for saving me," she said with a demure, submissive bow with her hands clasped in front of her.

"I hate it when bad guys beat up on women, especially when they're really really cute." Darius replied. Saturn blushed a deep red. A "hot" boy just said she was "cute"! Hotaro was on cloud nine. She wondered if he had a girlfriend.

"What we have here is a playboy," Sailor Mars commented with a smirk and her arms folder across her chest. She wasn't so much put off by what the boy said as she was jealous that he was focusing so much attention on Saturn.

"Pluto, what do you mean by him being a very long way from home?" Venus asked the Senshi of Time. The others all looked at her than looked at Setsuna with questioning looks. It was obvious on the green haired Senshi's face that she knew something.

Darius looked at her with a smile and replied, "Oh that's easy to answer actually. I'm a half-alien from another universe."

"Nani?!" the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, with the exception of Pluto, cried out in shock.

"You mean alien, as in little green men, that kind of alien?!" Sailor Moon freaked out with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Cool!" Saturn cheered.

"Why are you here?" Neptune asked trying to be the calm one of the group.

Darius scratched the back of his head and explained, "Well, its a long story. The short of it is, there was an accident when I was fighting some Darklings and my ship got transported here to this universe. I'm stuck here for three months while it repairs itself."

Saturn asked, "So, is this what you really look like or is this just a fake body or something?" She had to ask, it was on everyone's mind except for Pluto's who knew a great deal more about Darius than she was willing to divulge at the moment.

"What I look like now is all me," he replied. "My dad was a Satari, he looks human but with a few minor differences, and my mom was a human from earth."

"Why are you telling us this so openly?" Tuxedo Kamen asked wondering why an alien would reveal his secret to them so easily.

The Satari prince shrugged, "You look like the types who deal with this sort of stuff on a daily basis."

"Ain't that the truth," Mars deadpanned and the rest of the inners all nodded in agreement. Uranus and Neptune also nodded in agreement.

Darius thumbed in the direction the Mecha-Youma had once been. "What exactly were those things?" he asked.

"They're called Mecha-Youma." Saturn explained to him again.

Darius nodded and said, "Where'd they come from and why are they here?"

"They obey the orders of an agent from the Negaverse known as Doctor Z," Pluto answered. "He appeared a few months ago with a small army of them, but at the time they weren't very intelligent and were easily beaten."

The Senshi of Time saw the light of understanding in the boy's eyes. "The Negaverse, you're having trouble with those weak losers?"

Tuxedo Kamen felt a sudden disturbance in the Force that was his girl friend and future wife. Sailor Moon stalked up to Darius angrily with her hands on her hips.

"Those 'weak losers' decimated my mother's kingdom thousands of year ago killing her, me and all of my friends," she bitched him out angrily in a tone that made even Mars cringe in fear. "We were resurrected by my mother's magic in this time and have been fighting for our lives against the Negaverse ever since!"

Darius bowed, "I meant no offense, but about eight years ago they came to my earth and tried to cause trouble. Me and my friends sent them packing pretty quickly."

"If you're friends have energy levels that are anything close to what they are right now I can understand why." said Mercury who was looking at the display on the Mercury Computer with awe.

She looked at the others and said straight out, "He's more powerful than all of us ... in our Super Senshi forces and Sailor Moon in her Neo Queen Serenity form combined."

Saturn broke the momentary silence when she asked, "Is he even more powerful than me?"

"Very much so," Mercury replied to the surprise of the rest except for Pluto. They all looked at the seemingly young alien boy with awe.

"Don't worry," he told them with a smile. "I'm one of the good guys."

At that moment Kryton's voice sounded from his wrist com. "Lord Darius, long range sensors are now fully back online. I am detecting numerous unstable spacial nodes within Jubaan-ku and Nerima-ku. There is a larger one out near the orbit of the moon which shows quantum fluctuation signs of having been used as recently as two weeks ago."

Mercury came over to look at the device and wondered at it curiously. "Any evidence of Darkling technology?" Darius asked.

"Unfortunately yes," Kryton replied. "There is fading residue of Darkling energy around the node. I would guess from the rate of decay and the amount of energy it was a ship of some kind, however I detect no such vessels in or around this solar system."

"Who is that?" Sailor Moon asked him.

"My ship," Darius told her. "Kryton, as soon as you've restored more of your mobility I want you to hide yourself in a crater or a cave somewhere on the moon. It wouldn't be pleasant if you encountered a Darkling ship in your condition."

"Won't that block your ability to talk to him?" Mercury asked him.

Darius shook his head, "Nah, we use subspace com channels. Solid matter doesn't block that type of communication."

"I'll have most of my propulsion, defensive and offensive systems back online in a few days," Kryton explained. "At the moment I have minimal maneuvering thrusters and no weapons or shields. The FTL will still take three months."

Darius scratched his chin in thought and said, "Ok, at the sign of any trouble use whatever kind of mobility you have to hide yourself as best you can and let me know. I'll come up there in my frame and run interference for you if I have to."

"Understood milord," the ship replied.

"Sire ... milord," said Neptune. "You some kind of royalty or something?"

"I'm a prince actually," replied Darius. Saturn had stars in her eyes. He was a prince just like Tuxedo Kamen!

"You said that was your ship," Mars inquired. "Did you mean it was someone on your ship or what?"

"Kryton is the machine consciousness that runs the ships," Darius explained and Mercury's eyes lit up with intense curiosity.

"You mean an AI?" she asked in an intensely curious tone.

Pluto immediately interjected, "I think we've monopolized our new friend's time for long enough. If I am not wrong you have someplace you need to be right about now?" She turned to look at the young alien prince with a knowing smile which he saw quite clearly. He knew that she knew something, but didn't know exactly how she knew it.

"Actually yeah," he replied. "Sorry to kick ass and run but I really gotta go. I'll see you all later." He turned to leapt and fly off but at the last second stopped and turned towards Saturn. Completely on impulse he drew the young Senshi into his arms and kissed her gently on the lips. Uranus and Neptune both growled and stared lethally at him as he leapt into the air leaving a stunned Hotaro behind.

For a long time the young Senshi of Healing and Destruction was as immobile as a stone. Everyone nearly jumped out of their costumes when she finally screamed.

"I'M IN LOVE!!"

Jupiter then said, "He looked exactly like my old sempai."

"EVERY GUY LOOKS LIKE YOUR OLD SEMPAI!"

**oOOOo**

Ranma and Akane were still really sore all over. They were a pretty funny sight as they came down the stairs helping each other not to fall. In the wash room they undressed one another suppressing a sudden urge to fondle and cuddle and stumbled together into the furo. Painfully they washed one another and together climbed into the hot water of the tub which Kasumi had prepared for them with some of Lady Ambrosia's special restorative mineral bath salts.

"I haven't felt this sore since me and Ryoga had that really big fight a few months back," Ranma groaned. Despite the discomfort of his battle battered body he still cuddled up close to his wife who also enjoyed the closeness of his body against her own pain wracked body. It was hard to imagine that only a few weeks ago she would have malloted him into oblivion for just looking at her naked.

"The one where you learned the Hiryu Shoten Ha?" Akane asked remember that to be the only really big fight she knew the two of them have had in the past few months before Prince Herb's arrival.

Ranma nodded. He really didn't want to be reminded of that incident. Happosai had sapped him of his strength with that moxibustion leaving him vulnerable to his rivals. Ryoga at first refused to fight him because he was too weak an opponent, but in classic Saotome style he goaded the boy into fighting with his all. Damn it hurt when the pig boy hit at full strength. There weren't many people in the world who could withstand a direct hit from the Eternally Lost Boy and survive to talk about it. In the end he figured out the secret of the move Cologne was trying to teach him and used it to finally defeat Happosai and get the chart back that was need to restore his strength.

"This bath feels so good," Akane sighed leaning into Ranma's shoulder.

Ranma smiled and said, "If I weren't so sore I'd make it feel a whole lot better." Akane blushed and lightly pounded on his chest.

"Hentai," she said with a smile.

"Only for you," he replied softly and kissed her gently. She didn't resist and returned the kiss with earnest. After letting the heat and medicinal additives work most of the soreness out of them they got out of the tub, and dressed for breakfast. There was no school today, something for which the two were thankful, thus it meant they'd be able to rest the entire day. Lady Ambrosia had even canceled their regular training sessions for today knowing the two wouldn't be in much condition for anything other than laying around the house for a day or so since that big fight at the school plus their most recent training session which resulted in their current condition.

"You two looked like death warmed over," Nabiki commented looking at their haggard appearance.

Shampoo nodded, "Aiya, look like Linn Linn and Lung Lung after Bakusai Tenketsu training." She cherished that memory of old homeland, a place she'd never be able to see ever again. The twins did learn the technique finally, they were the youngest to ever attempt the training, but it had taken its toll on them and put them both out of commission for a week.

"Actually, what they were learning was similar to that technique," Lady Ambrosia explained. "But with a Weaver twist. In the end, the technique they learned is far more powerful and effective than the Bakusai Tenketsu because it can be used on any substance instead of just rock."

"Anything?" Soun asked in surprise. The old Amazon reached over his her finger and lightly tapped his newspaper. It instantly burst into confetti.

Soun yelped, "Ah! My paper!" And prompted fell back away form the kotatsu table.

Lady Ambrosia gave him an amuse smirk, "Relax Tendo-san. Here, read mine, I'm done with it." She produced another newspaper out of thin air and handed it to him. Kasumi cheered at the show and clapped. Nabiki rolled her eyes at how easily entertained her older sister was. These demonstrations of impossible feats were become the norm around Tendo-ke. Nothing that went on here really surprised her anymore.

"You'll be sure to share with you're father how that techniques works, right boy?" Genma said with a smile. The things he could do with a technique like that. He imagined using it against his evil sensei. Finally, they'd be free of him.

Lady Ambrosia sighed, "Even if he did, which I doubt he would, you wouldn't be able to use it."

"And why is that?" Genma grouched at her angrily.

"'Cause its a Weaver technique and ya gotta be born with the gift to make it work, baka." said Ranma.

"Oh," the panda man frowned at the injustice of not being born with the same power as his ungrateful son. Well, at least he did finally join the schools.

"Shampoo jealous, wish she had powers like brother Ranma and sister Akane." the cyan haired ex-Amazon pouted in a manner that just made her look even cuter than she was already. Nobody noticed the knowing look on the old Amazon's face.

Nabiki spoke up and asked, "Speaking of that. Why can't you two use your powers to make yourselves all better?" She already knew Ranma has an incredible ability to recover from even the most serious of injuries quickly, so why was he suffering now. Come to think of it, she never knew her sister to suffer from injuries for long either.

"They are to a certain unconscious extent," Lady Ambrosia explained. "The two of them extended themselves to the limit in that battle at the school. I wouldn't normally have allowed them to push themselves that hard but we were in a life or death battle at the time and there was no other choice. The Weaving has a powerful effect on the mind and body, one must prepare for the stresses the power puts on you in order to focus it properly."

She then added, "That battle told me one thing, the barrier between this world and the one where the Darkness had been sealed away is starting to crumble. In my fear that the breach might become too great to deal with I accelerated their training perhaps a bit too soon. Their current condition is my fault."

"No its not," Akane retorted.

"Hell, this ain't nothing til you been through one of oyagi's crazy training exercises." said Ranma. His words filled the panda man with pride until he realized exactly what the boy had said, and then he just fumed angrily.

Lady Ambrosia sipped her tea and replied, "True enough, but the matter still remains. The breach has widened enough so that more than one of them were able to get through. Its only a matter of time before it shatters altogether."

"What will happen then?" Kasumi asked worriedly.

The Amazon Weaver looked at her sadly and said, "The Apocalypse will come."

Ranma snorted derisively, "And when they come me and Akane will be there to kick their asses back to where they came from." Akane swooned at his words, to hear him say "me 'and Akane'", actually acknowledging her fighting ability warmed her heart. He'd been doing that a lot lately. She liked it.

"Perhaps, but you two still have a long way to go before you are ready to face them on that level." Lady Ambrosia warned them.

Nabiki had been wanting to ask this question ever since the battle at the school and finally decided to voice it. "What exactly are Darklings?" she asked. The fathers and Kasumi looked at one another. They'd heard Lady Ambrosia mention them several times but they really didn't fully understand exactly what the things were.

"I already explained some of this to Ranma and Akane," the old Weaver replied. "But I guess its time I revealed everything I know of them. There is no further need to hide the full truth any longer."

"The Darkness is a race of creatures which exist in a rather unusual relationship with the Etherium," she explained.

"That stuff that gives us our Weaving powers?" Ranma inquired in surprise.

She shook her head, "It doesn't give you your powers, no, but it does allow your power to manipulate it and in doing so change reality. You see the Darkness was created by the Elo'Quin." The young couple gasped in shock while the others looked at her dumbfoundedly.

"It was the alien race know as the Elo'Quin which imparted the knowledge of the Weaving to me," Lady Ambrosia told them. "They also explained the true nature of the Darkness. You see, the Elo'Quin who taught me how to control my powers were refugees from their home universe. The Darkness had scattered their kind across countless realities and countless light-years after their civilization fell. They warned me of the great danger that came from learning the Weaving, the danger of believing oneself to be a god."

Seeing that she had everyone's attention now and no further questions were forthcoming she continued, "After the start of what the Elo'Quin called their Golden Age when they discovered the Etherium and the power to control it, they began to expand their empire across countless galaxies and even into other realities. They were a benevolent people, kind, gentle and caring. In their exploration they encountered many different races, most of them far less technologically developed than they were. Many of these alien races came to see them as gods and a religion soon sprang up surrounding them. Over several millennia the Elo'Quin civilization grew increasingly more powerful and technologically advanced due to their ever increasing understanding of the Etherium and how to control it. At first they tried to convince the other races that they weren't gods, but as the power of the Elo'Quin grew their growing so did their arrogance. Eventually they begin to believe that perhaps they had indeed become gods. Soon, the very ruling council of the Elo'Quin supported the notion that their people had ascended to become gods and encouraged the other races to worship them and build temples in their name."

After a sip of tea to clear her dry throat Lady Ambrosia continued her tale, "Millions of years passed and the power of the Elo'Quin grew greater still. Yet, despite their accomplishments the Elo'Quin were not satisfied. The power they possessed, as it is with Ranma and Akane, is draining on the body and mind. It was the one thing they never learned how to get around. They could create technology which manipulated the Etherium easily, but they wanted to be able to do it themselves without tiring like the machines were able to do. So, the ruling council gave their greatest minds the task of finally finding a way to make it possible to use the Weaving without the tiring effects on the user. There were many failed attempts. Then, in a remote universe on the outskirts of the Elo'Quin's vast empire a team of researchers stumbled upon something they believed could be the answer to their problem. It was a seemingly innocuous little creature, resembling a cross between a worm and a slug, found on a swampy planet in the back end of nowhere. Yet, this seemingly harmless little creature had a miraculous property. The creature channeled the energies of the Etherium. It could not manipulate it, but it did channel its energy in a manner which was very different from the Elo'Quin. The researchers began working on captured samples, re-sequencing their DNA, manipulating them to transform the creatures into living implants which would give the Elo'Quin the ability to effortlessly channel the energies of the Etherium. In their haste to find an answer to a problem which has plagued them for countless centuries the Elo'Quin scientists committed the ultimate sin. They failed to perform even the most basic scientific research into the true nature of the creatures they had discovered. They believed the creatures to be scavengers who fed on dead pants or dead animals, but they were wrong. Those small, seemingly harmless little creatures were in truth the dominant predators on their planet."

Kasumi gasped and put her hand on her lips. Ranma and Akane didn't react, they were too intently listening to the tale to really be concerned with reactions. Nabiki and the fathers stayed silent too, intently listening. Lady Ambrosia went on, "They possessed no sensory organs whatsoever. Normally such creatures would have died out, natural selection would have deemed them unsuitable for survival and their species would have gone extinct. However, that did not happen. The creatures evolved a way to sense the world around them through the Etherium. Channeling its energy allowed them to feel the world around them and to detect the presence of prey. When a wandering creature came by they'd climb to someplace where they could drop onto their unsuspecting prey and latch on. Slowly, the creatures would drain the animal they were attached to of its life essence until it died. The Elo'Quin knew nothing of the horror they were about to unleash against all life in their universe and countless other realities beyond. Little is known of what happened next. All that is known is that the Elo'Quin lost contact with the colony the researches established on that planet. Two million lives were simply missing without a trace. It was a mystery which continued for another million years until the Elo'Quin encountered the Darkness for the first time. Since then the creatures, now combined with Elo'Quin DNA and the DNA of countless other alien races were a completely different species from the one created in the labs on that colony. There creatures had the ability to assimilate the cells of their host and to shape shift. Their veracious appetite for life essence knew no limits, the hunger drove them to scourge vast reaches of space to find worlds with life, and when they found such worlds they consumed them. An encounter with the Darkness meant certain and absolute destruction, and with each new race encountered they added their DNA to the gene pool further expanding their abilities and attributes. Billions upon billions of worlds, many with sentient life, were consumed by the Darkness. By the time they came back into contact with the race which had created them their empire had grown vast and powerful."

Nabiki asked, "But, if these Elo'Quin were so powerful why weren't they able to fight back?"

The old Weaver replied, "But they did, and though the Elo'Quin possessed superior technology to the Darkness, they did not possess superior numbers. The Darklings outnumbered them a million to one. The Weaving had expanded their lifespans to near infinity, and thus fewer and fewer children were being born as their kind lived longer and longer lives. The Darkness fell upon the Elo'Quin like a raging ocean of malevolent waters which burst from a dam. There was no stopping them, no matter how hard they fought the Elo'Quin were no match for the immensity of their forces. It was during the later half of the war that the secret of the Darkness was revealed and the Elo'Quin learned that their own kind had been the architects of their doom. Worse still, the Darkness still channeled the energies of the Etherium, and in the presence of the Weaving the natural metabolic rhythm of their life force was severely disturbed. What that means is the Weaving disrupted the natural workings of their bodies, when the Etherium was disturbed by the Weaving they felt pain and discomfort and their ability to absorb life essence was hindered. Thus, the Darkness sought to eradicate any who knew of the Weaving forever and embarked on a holy crusade of genocide against the Elo'Quin."

"So, they lost the war, their civilization fell and the survivors all ran away and went into hiding." said Nabiki. It was a sad story, but they bring it on themselves.

"Yes," Lady Ambrosia nodded. "However, the Elo'Quin did not loose the war." Everyone looked at her in surprise at this news and waited for to explain.

"In their original home universe the Elo'Quin completed a weapon which they hoped would defeated the Darkness," she said. "They called it Galiea, a giant sphere world as large as the orbit of the Earth around the sun with a livable surface on the inside that equaled the landmass of millions of Earths. The sphere world had immensely powerful defenses which used the Etherium, possessed sentient intelligence yet had no life essence for the Darkness to drain away. The remainder of the surviving Elo'Quin scattered across multiple realities and countless light-years leaving a small force behind to deliver the coup de gras to the Darkness. Their vast horde came in such numbers it was said all of space around the sphere world was filled with them. The first of their kind, their leader called the Dark One lead the charge. It was at that moment the Elo'Quin sprang their trap and unleashed the might of Galiea. In the end the Elo'Quin manning the sphere world were killed but the Darkness suffered unimaginable casualties and their leader the Dark One had been destroyed. The defenses of the sphere world went to automatic and the Darklings had no choice but to flee or be completely eradicated. Elo'Quin civilization had indeed fallen, but they won the conflict and severely damaged the Darkness in the process."

"If that is so, then how is it they are a threat to us right now?" Soun asked.

Lady Ambrosia thought it was a legitimate question and answered it. "Because they came here looking for the Elo'Quin and encountered a world where the Weaving was known," she explained. "The small horde did not expect to find a village of primitive warrior women possessing the knowledge of the Weaving and were caught off guard. We beat them and sealed them away into a pocket universe of our own creation. However, we knew it wouldn't hold for long and so I've been working towards preparing for the day they would come back. Unfortunately, time has not been kind to my efforts and my people grew complacent and arrogant. Now, we are not prepared to face what is about to be released and the world may pay dearly for the sins of my kin."

"Ara," Kasumi whispered softly.

"Before they left the Elo'Quin told me of a prophesy," Lady Ambrosia said. "One of their kind possessed the ability through the Weaving to see the future. They told me that their kind would one day return to Galiea and once again inhabit its lush interior. From these people would be born a man of extraordinary ability and a command of the Weaving which was greater than any of their kind throughout history. This man would reunite their kin and lead the galaxy in a war against the Darkness which would drive them back from that universe forever. According to the tale told to me that time should have already come to pass. If only there were some way to reach them, to contact this Galiea and ask for their help. But, I do not know how to even attempt to do such a thing with the Weaving, thus we must do what we must ourselves. For in each universe, there is one born like that man with unrivaled power in the Weaving. In our universe that person is Akane, thus we have hope. A small hope, but some nonetheless." There were no questions after that and the family continued their breakfast in silence. The need for words was over, and saying any wouldn't change the situation one bit. Ranma and Akane in that moment made a silence pledge to give their lives to end this nightmare one way or the other.

**oOOOo**

Darius walked away from Tendo-ke enshrouded in a subspace cloaking field. Upon his face was an expression of absolute shock. These people knew about Galiea, but most of all his people, his father's people ... they "were" Elo'Quin or at least of some relation to them. He'd suspected it for a long time, but never expected such information to be confirmed. The revelation about the Darkness was also painful to hear as well. If what the old woman had said was true then his ancestors were responsible for all of the death and destroyed he witnessed over the centuries caused by the Darkness. The death of his biological mother was "their" fault! Hundreds of trillions of lives were snuffed out because of their greed for more power.

He walked over to the koi pond and sat upon one of the rocks and tried to make sense of all of this. So deep was he in his musings that he didn't see nor sense the attack that came. Something very hard hit the side of his head sending him flying. His years of training allowed body to instinctively right itself as he went flying and alighted to the ground some distance away. Standing next to where he'd been sitting was the old women. His cloak was still up and active yet she was looking right-at-him.

"Did you truly believe you could hide from me so easily?" she demanded. One of the smaller rocks by the pond lifted into the air and changed shape forming into a long cursed sword.

"Reveal yourself!" she cried falling into a fighting stand.

Darius shrugged. Now was as good a time as any to say hello. He dropped the cloak revealing himself to everyone. Nabiki immediately noticed now good looking this person was, but was leery of him at the moment until she knew more about him. The old woman seemed taken aback for moment that the intruder appears to be human in appearance, but she remembered the Darkness could take on any shape or form and prepared herself for a possible fight.

"Who are you?" Lady Ambrosia demanded.

Her mouth fell open in shock and gasps came from the residence of Tendo-ke when the young man answered.

"I am Darius Quintarin, Crown Prince of Galiea."

**oOOOo**

**To be continued...**


End file.
